Fresh off Seattle Symphony’s announcement of the orchestra’s next music director, Xian Zhang, the public transportation authority in Seattle renamed its University Street transit station as Symphony Station. Located underneath the same city block as Seattle Symphony’s Benaroya Hall, the renaming better identifies the station’s most prominent above-ground neighbor while avoiding confusion with the University of Washington and University District stations.
The renaming becomes official today in an event featuring Seattle Symphony President and CEO Krishna Thiagarajan, Seattle Deputy Mayor Greg Wong, and Sound Transit CEO Goran Sparrman. In addition, Seattle Symphony musicians will perform as part of the celebration.
The station originally opened in 1990, eight years before Benaroya Hall was built, and was named University Street Station due to its location at University St. and 3rd Ave. in downtown Seattle. One entrance was temporarily closed while Benaroya Hall was under construction from 1996-1998.
Though various name changes were considered over the years, including renaming the station for the neighboring Seattle Art Museum, the current change to Symphony Station was only decided in October 2021 following a public survey. The survey received over 14,000 responses, with Symphony Station capturing the most votes.
