Since Seattle City Light first proposed a new electric vehicle (EV) charging lot in the Morgan Junction neighborhood in 2022, the project has faced numerous setbacks. At the time, officials suggested construction could begin that same year and be wrapped up in roughly three months, according to reporting from The Urbanist. Five years later, the site remains a construction zone of delays and setbacks, with a new projected opening date of September 2027.
The Morgan Junction project, located on a 4,500-square-foot site that served as a decommissioned substation for two decades, was intended to provide eight paid, fast-charging stalls. While the utility aims to bring these services closer to neighborhood retail and major arterial roads, the timeline has become a symbol of local government’s struggle to deliver on promised timelines.
Contractor disputes and structural redesigns delay project completion
The project has faced a series of compounding failures that have pushed the completion date further into the future. In early 2025, District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka attempted to intervene by publishing an internal Seattle City Light memo intended to accelerate the schedule, aiming for an October construction start. However, work did not actually begin until February of this year when the contractor, Zenisco Inc., arrived on site.
The momentum halted again when the city fired Zenisco. This decision followed ongoing issues that have been primary drivers in the timeline slipping from months to years.
The difficulty of standalone charging infrastructure
The struggles in Morgan Junction are not isolated incidents for the utility. Seattle City Light has encountered similar obstacles with other proposed standalone lots, suggesting a systemic difficulty in repurposing small, urban parcels for EV infrastructure. In 2021, a plan to convert a decommissioned substation in Ballard was abandoned after soil tests revealed that on-site drainage was unfeasible without costly connections to the municipal stormwater sewer. The utility ultimately determined the disruption to vehicle traffic and King County Metro trolley bus operations made the project unviable.
A similar pattern emerged at a high‑value site near Pike Place Market, where SCL abandoned the project as well, citing “unforeseen delays and funding constraints.” These failures have prompted a strategic shift in how the city approaches electrification. Rather than focusing on standalone lots, the utility is increasingly prioritizing curbside charging within the public right‑of‑way, targeting 200 on‑street charging locations by 2030.
“Morgan Junction is our largest and most ambitious EV‑charging station project to date requiring more time, engineering, and permitting than one of our more typical EV charging station projects,” a former Seattle City Light spokesperson told The West Seattle Blog during the design phase.
The utility also pointed to broader economic pressures, noting that the rapid increase in nationwide transportation electrification costs has complicated the procurement of chargers and essential electric service equipment.
A shift in urban utility strategy
Kate Jacobs, a spokesperson for Seattle City Light, indicated that the utility’s planned expansion will likely move away from the standalone lot model that has caused so much friction. The city is leaning into the Morgan Junction EV charging station project as a learning opportunity, with plans to conduct a comprehensive review of all project phases once the asset is finally delivered to the community.
As the city waits for the September 2027 opening, the Morgan Junction site stands as a symbol of frustration with local government being able to deliver on promises.
