Downtown Kent on the upswing says retiring city planning director

When Fred Satterstrom looks at the development of downtown from Kent Station to the ShoWare Center to The Platform Apartments, he has a simple description.

“The there is here now,” he said.

Few people know Kent’s development over the last few decades as well as Satterstrom, who retires Friday as the city planning director.

“Now as I look back it’s one of the most significant votes in my 32 years because the way Kent Station has worked out,” Satterstrom said as he sat in his office last week chatting about the shopping center that opened in 2005.

“I think Kent Station has given Kent some regional notoriety,” he said. “People who are not from Kent know about Kent Station and know about the community. And it’s led to other things. As much as ShoWare is maligned by certain residents, it has brought notoriety to Kent that complements the overall picture of downtown so much so that people desire to live here now.”

Satterstrom, 65, however, recalls that Kent Station almost never got off the ground.

“It started out as a very controversial action,” he said. “The City Council in its first vote on it turned down the plan to go out and purchase the property for the purpose of developing it for a mixed-use development. It involved a land sale that might not bring back the same revenue as the city had paid to obtain the property.”

Borden Chemical ran a plywood resin plant on the property but agreed to sell it to the city and relocate. But the council voted 4-3 against the sale before a change in council members a short time later resulted in a 4-3 vote to buy the property.

Brent McFall, the city of Kent chief administrative officer in the 1990s, and then-Mayor Jim White came up with the idea for Kent Station, Satterstrom said.

“It’s a good time (to retire) because I’ve seen the city accomplish some things,” Satterstrom said about the big changes downtown. “My only part in it, I didn’t have the ideas, but I played a role in recognizing good ideas and trying to set them in motion.”

Mayor Suzette Cooke commended Satterstrom at the Feb. 17 council meeting for his years of work. She proclaimed Feb. 27 as Fred Satterstrom Day in Kent.

Satterstrom helped shape land use for $3.5 billion worth of construction in his 32 years with the city, Cooke said.

While attending the University of Washington, Satterstrom developed an interest in urban planning.

“It was the early 1970s and I was into environmental planning and found out about urban planning and it seemed like good, professional, responsible work,” Satterstrom said. “I wanted to do public service and saw this work as one way of doing that.”

He worked seven years for the city of Tukwila prior to coming to Kent on a temporary contract for 44 days before eventually getting hired as a full-time planner.

Along with Nancy, his wife of 41 years, Satterstrom raised three children, each a Kentridge High School graduate. Satterstrom and his wife are Kent-Meridian High graduates and live in unincorporated King County, just outside of Kent. He moved to Kent at age 12 when his family relocated from Minnesota.

The couple will leave soon for an across-the-nation drive to visit their children, who live in Boston, Houston and Las Vegas. Pictures of his children decorated Satterstrom’s office over the years. He’s certainly proud of what all three have accomplished. Kyle recently got his doctorate in bioengineering from Harvard University; Kirsti works in internal communications for a University of Texas medical branch in Houston; and Kenna works as a restaurant and lounge manager for the Wynn Las Vegas Resort.

Although none of his children followed his line of work, Satterstrom exposed them to urban planning through his job as well as on trips to big cities.

That’s why it pleased Satterstrom to hear Kirsti talk about land use in Houston.

“When she moved there last August and we were driving around she would ask why was there a repair garage next to a residential home, don’t they have zoning here?” he said. “I told her they didn’t until recently. The kids are very observant about the urban environment.”

Satterstrom expects Kent to see more apartment complexes in the years ahead, built in the style similar to The Platform Apartments and the new Kent Station Apartments.

“I see multiple family coming back,” he said. “It’s not just the two projects downtown. There was a 10-year period up to a year or two ago where there weren’t any apartments being built. The market is changing and there is now a reason for urban residential to occur here.

“I think light rail on West Hill will bring more residential use and in the long run upgrade that area over time. It will take a while but the area should revitalize a few years after the station is developed.”

As far as what Satterstrom will miss most about his job, he didn’t hesitate to answer.

“When you work 32 years in the same place you don’t just come here and work, you come here and you develop relationships,” he said. “I will miss my fellow employees and sitting in on the mayor’s leadership team meeting on Monday morning and talking about high level policy issues as well as who won the Super Bowl and who made that call in the last game.”