King County to buy Skyway Park Bowl site for new community center

King County is working to buy a bowling alley in Skyway in order to build a new community center for the unincorporated area south of Seattle.

County officials have entered a purchase-and-sale agreement for Skyway Park Bowl and hope to close the deal with the property owner next month, said Warren Jimenez, director of the county's parks department. The site became available recently because the business there is shutting down.

Jimenez declined to share the purchase price, citing due diligence work still underway. But assuming the deal goes through, it will be big news for Skyway residents, who have been advocating for a community center for decades.

"What I've heard is mostly excitement" about the plan for a community center that Skyway has needed for so long, mixed with sadness over Skyway Park Bowl's closure, said Rebecca Zapata, executive director of Skyway Coalition, a nonprofit in one of the county's most diverse communities.

Whereas nearby Seattle, Renton and Tukwila are served by city governments, unincorporated Skyway is served only by the county, with limited tax resources and a history of underinvestment. County Executive Girmay Zahilay, who grew up partly in Skyway, remembers feeling isolated by a lack of recreational opportunities and other amenities, he said.

"The community has been asking for a Skyway community center for a generation," said Zahilay, who represented the area on the Metropolitan King County Council before becoming county executive. "It's very needed."

Residents worked with Zahilay to secure $10 million from the county's budget for a community center in 2021, and a county parks levy approved by voters last year will supply an additional $13 million for the project.

Finding a place to build has been a challenge. Before the bowling alley property became available, the county was aiming for a site within Skyway Park. On one hand, the park is centrally located. On the other hand, building a community center there would have meant giving up some green space.

The bowling alley property is situated near the park on busy Renton Avenue South, close to bus stops and Skyway's Grocery Outlet supermarket.

"It's super accessible by transit and by car, whereas the park is kind of tucked away," Zahilay said, describing the bowling alley location as ideal.

Skyway Park Bowl opened in 1961 and has long provided unincorporated South End neighborhoods with an important gathering space, said Devin Chicras, a board member at the West Hill Community Association (a volunteer-run nonprofit for Skyway and other neighborhoods in the vicinity).

People of all ages enjoyed bowling until a sprinkler malfunction caused damage in 2024, according to the association. Patrons have continued using the building's event space, including for performances in Vietnamese and Spanish, but the doors will close next month, Chicras said. The property's owner could not immediately be reached for comment.

"It's been a third place" where people have gathered after school and after work to bowl, dance, sing and make memories, Chicras said, describing the county's community center plan as a "natural evolution" for the site.

The county's community center plan still needs to be developed. Zahilay said he expects a brand new building will need to be constructed.

Zapata, from Skyway Coalition, credited the step forward to years of local organizing and persistence. She sees the new community center fitting with other projects that are making Skyway a stronger and more walkable area.

A new resource center opened last year with government, youth and counseling services; a new pocket park was dedicated last weekend; and affordable housing is in the works, Zapata noted.

"It's a really nice big puzzle," she said. "The story here is community power."

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This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 6:44 AM.