The Seattle City Council has unanimously voted to place a six-year, $73 million levy for improvements to the Pike Place Market on November's ballot.

The last major renovations to the market were made in the early 1980s with $50 million in federal grants. Since then the market has been in constant use with more than 10 million visitors each year, 500 full time residents and 240 businesses.

The Council voted on a levy package that would largely finance an upgrade of the market's electrical systems, which would bring them to modern safety standards, including replacements of several primary utility transformers; an upgrade of the market's heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems so an energy-efficient central system could replace the various mechanical systems that currently operate independent of each other; plumbing system improvements to replace degraded sanitary pipe drains; seismic retrofits to help the market meet and exceed current code standards; improved accessibility for people with disabilities, including the installation of new elevators; two new sets of public restrooms on the Arcade level of the market; and miscellaneous repairs to buildings throughout the market, including rusted awnings, failing roofs, and replacement of degraded windows.