‘Game changer’ partnership with Seattle Center could help struggling Pacific Science Center thrive

The city-owned Seattle Center and the Pacific Science Center have formed a first-of-its-kind partnership that will help support the nonprofit while creating a more vibrant connection between the venues.

GeekWire reported Tuesday about financial struggles at PacSci, a long-time hub for education and innovation that sits underneath the Space Needle at the edge of downtown Seattle. The institution needs deferred infrastructure upgrades estimated to cost more than $70 million, among other challenges.

The new partnership with the city is a “game changer,” said PacSci CEO Will Daugherty. Joining forces, he said, will “create a tailwind and advocacy and awareness that will help us attract the investment that we need to sustain and grow our programming and to address the challenges with the facility.”

Seattle Center and PacSci were created for the 1962 World’s Fair and many in the city view them as overlapping entities. But they went separate ways in terms of ownership and management decades ago, operating as “very friendly neighbors,” said Daugherty, but there’s never been a formal relationship.

Seattle Center is a city department that manages a sprawling, 74-acre campus that includes the Space Needle, Climate Pledge Arena, the International Fountain, multiple performance theaters and other attractions.

The immediate next step is for the partnership to devise a plan and secure funding for removing the gates and kiosks at the north end of PacSci that create a barricade between its courtyard and the Seattle Center campus.

The target is to get the work done in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which includes summer matches in Seattle. The Seattle Center was appointed as the gathering place for fans to watch live streams of the games.

Seattle Center also faces its own restoration needs and is working on a 10-year strategic vision and action plan for upgrades. The new partnership allows for that initiative to include the rehab of PacSci’s courtyard, Gothic arches and pools, and to create a public route from downtown through PacSci and into the Seattle Center.

Funding for the 10-year plan is still being worked out.

“This is something we’re discussing with the mayor,” said Marshall Foster, director of Seattle Center. “I don’t want to get ahead of the city’s process, but we anticipate having some new funding measures to really, address the needs of Seattle Center and the Science Center coming soon.”

The two sides have signed a letter of intent spelling out steps that they’ll be taking and timelines. The collaboration includes commitments to support PacSci’s educational programming and a new $20 million Maker & Innovation Lab centerpiece exhibit.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell advocated for the partnership, calling the organizations “pillars of our city’s cultural fabric and innovative spirit.”

“This new partnership will strengthen both institutions, and ensure that together, Seattle Center and the Pacific Science Center can serve, inspire, and educate all Seattleites for generations to come,” Harrell said in a statement.

While it’s an iconic and beloved institution, PacSci has struggled to cover its operating costs and receives little public support. The organization has been reviewing its real estate holdings as a means of shoring up its financial stability, but has not shared news of any impending transactions.

“To the extent that there are future real estate transactions — whether those be a sale or a lease — they now will be done under the umbrella of this overall partnership,” Daugherty said, “the purpose of which is to ensure that the Science Center is a thriving contributor to Seattle Center.”

PacSci leaders hope the planned Maker & Innovation Lab will stoke excitement in the venue. The exhibit would dramatically expand the current makerspace, growing it into a 14,000-square-foot feature. The vision is to provide access and instruction for using tools including 3D printers, wood working equipment, laser cutters, stations for soldering and electronics, digital design tools, and coding and robotics technologies.

The nonprofit so far has $1 million from a King County grant and state lawmakers have requested another $1 million in the state budget for the lab. A private donor is giving $100,000.

Supporters from the tech community cheered the idea.

“It will give people the ability to see what innovation really looks like,” said Jason Barnwell, a Microsoft general manager and associate general counsel, and a PacSci board member. They’ll have the chance to engage in the problem solving process, he said, learning “how do you take an idea from zero to one.”

The organizations’ letter of intent specifies actions that each will take and a timeline for making the work. It does not include details on costs and how they’ll be divided.

But the goal is clear: to strengthen the PacSci’s operations as a Seattle Center attraction and to better connect the whole site with the city’s downtown.

“This city deserves a world-class science center,” Daugherty said. “To have the world-class research and innovation that we do, to have all of the innovation economy that you cover at GeekWire, it should be reflected in a science center, and that science center should be at Seattle Center.”