DSA Presents City Maker Award to Jack McCullough

SEATTLE, June 26, 2026 — The Downtown Seattle Association presented its prestigious City Maker of the Year award to Jack McCullough, president of McCullough Hill, at the DSA/MID Annual Meeting & Party on June 25. The honor recognizes an individual, family, business or institution for their economic investments, cultural significance and commitment to the community. 

Over a career spanning more than three decades, McCullough has left his fingerprints on nearly every corner of downtown Seattle. Colleagues and peers estimate he has been responsible for hundreds of thousands of residential units and tens of millions of square feet of office, hotel and mixed-use space — including landmark projects associated with the Gates Foundation campus, the Seattle Great Wheel and countless towers that define the city’s skyline. His influence extends to South Lake Union, the downtown core, lower Queen Anne and now Memorial Stadium and future transportation infrastructure. 

Perhaps McCullough’s most consequential contribution was serving as the architect of the 2015 “Grand Bargain” on affordable housing — a landmark agreement that ended two decades of gridlock by bringing together developers, affordable housing advocates and city officials around a shared framework. He also served as general counsel for DSA for 20 years, negotiated the central waterfront Local Improvement District agreement on behalf of downtown property owners, and has played a pivotal role in shaping the Elliott Bay Connections project, which is transforming the waterfront into one of the most dynamic public spaces on the West Coast. 

“Jack is a masterful coalition builder,” DSA President & CEO Jon Scholes said of McCullough, who joined DSA’s board in 1990 and served as chair from 2012-14. “He can reach across different interest groups and different industries and bring people together around a shared goal. His vision for this city — and his conviction in pursuing it — is the foundation we are all building on.”

McCullough, a self-proclaimed “concerned citizen,” has long approached his work as one of translation and mediation between public and private interests.  

“I am mostly a translator and a mediator,” McCullough said in a PSBJ story published in 2020. “My private development clients don’t always understand the goals or motivations of the public sector regulators — and vice versa. So I help them talk to each other and look for spaces where their interests can align. 

“We all have the same objective: build the best urban environment we possibly can to serve the most people. If we agree on this, then we can always find common ground.” 

At the Annual Meeting & Party, colleagues offered an outpouring of tributes via video. Developer Greg Smith, who worked alongside McCullough for 30 years and named a building on Jackson Street “The Jack” in his honor, called him “the great, mighty Oz” of the Emerald City.  

“If you wrote a book about city making, Jack would be No. 1,” said Smith, Urban Visions CEO. “The ultimate city maker is somebody who knows how to navigate the tricky waters of city making. Jack’s had his fingerprints on pretty much everything you see in downtown.” 

Seattle Kraken Senior Vice President Mari Horita called McCullough “enigmatic.” 

“He is so many things, and it all combines to produce this person who is absolutely impossible to replicate,” Horita said. “Jack is a masterful coalition builder. He can reach across different interest groups, different industries and bring people together around a shared goal.” 

“He has helped pass legislation, he has helped shape policy debates and he has helped build coalitions that honestly no one ever thought could be joined together,” added Ken Lederman, partner at McCullough Hill. 

“He finds the path that he believes is right, and he works toward it with conviction,” said Marty Kooistra, Network Weaver, Civic Commons. “Jack represented the needs of the city as one of the strongest advocates I’ve ever seen. He believes in this city and he wants to see it flourish.” 

The City Maker award reflects DSA’s mission to champion a thriving, equitable and world-class downtown Seattle. McCullough joins a distinguished line of honorees whose investments and leadership have defined the city’s trajectory. Past recipients include Nordstrom (2019), the Moriguchi Family (2018) and Amazon (2017). 

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About the Downtown Seattle Association 

Established in 1958, the Downtown Seattle Association is a nonprofit membership organization whose mission is to create a healthy, vibrant downtown for all. By advocating on issues including transportation, economic development and the urban experience, DSA works to ensure that downtown remains a great place to live, work, shop and play for all. DSA also manages the Metropolitan Improvement District, a business-improvement area spanning 300 square blocks downtown.