The Hiawatha Playfield renovation, begun in the summer is nearly complete. The turf field is open, and rubber track surfacing will be installed in the summer 2010. The project, budgeted at $3.6 million was funded in part by Seattle Parks and Recreation who contributed $2.5 million, Seattle Public Schools, with $1 million and the King County Council, led on the initiative by Dow Constantine with $100,000.

The contractor removed the fences on December 16, 2009, and clean up work is underway around the site. The playfield is located adjacent to West Seattle High School at 2700 California Ave SW.

There is still work to do installing soccer goals completing the backstop fencing and getting site fixtures installed. The contractor will be on site through the end of the year.

The Hiawatha Playfield was renovated with synthetic turf and updated lighting. Baseball, soccer, and football are represented with full-sized facilities. Three lanes of a non-conforming rubberized track encompass the sports field. Each lane is 3.5 feet in width. The existing field events located on the east side of the Community Center are being renovated as well.

The football grid was minimally striped with boundary and 5 yard lines.

When Olmsted designed the Playfield in 1911, he only needed to accomodate baseball: football, in its infancy, was primarily played at the college level, and soccer wasn't yet recognized in America. Now, almost 100 years later, those three sports (plus track) must fit into the space as it was created from Olmsted's original design.

In order to accomplish this so that the sports fields are optimally oriented, the single, signficantly large elm located at the south end of the existing soccer field, must come down. This elm suffered storm damage in 2003 and is susceptible to Dutch Elm disease. As the elm will likely suffer additional impacts during the pending field construction, it is prudent to remove the tree now rather than compromise the fields' orientation.

In recent years 13 young trees were installed within the inside of the existing track. These trees will either be moved or replaced elsewhere depending on their value.