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SEATTLE | Amazon Doppler, Day One and re:Invent (6th/Blanchard/8th/Lenora/7th/Virginia) | 39 stories | ~520 feet | ~159 m

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#1 · (Edited)
I'm sure in time, a thread will be warranted for this construction. Here's the latest:

Vulcan welds old with new in South Lake Union makeover
By Eric Pryne

Seattle Times business reporter
In South Lake Union, where construction cranes sprout like dandelions, "in with the new" doesn't always mean out with the old.

Vulcan, the neighborhood's dominant developer, has unveiled plans to build two 11- or 12-story office towers for Amazon.com around a modest, two-story brick warehouse that was built the same year a guy named Boeing began working on his first biplane.

Vulcan isn't just preserving the 93-year-old Terry Avenue Building. The developer and the project's designer, Callison Architects, say they like it so much that they are modeling Amazon's two new towers after it.

The preliminary design for the office buildings, which will fill most of the block between Terry and Boren avenues and Thomas and Harrison streets, "is really a modern interpretation of the warehouse," architect Peter Krech told a city design-review board last month.

The Terry Avenue Building will be the third old South Lake Union structure that Vulcan has preserved, at least in part, as it methodically transforms the long-forgotten neighborhood into an urban village of corporate headquarters, condos and cafes.

Two more Vulcan-owned buildings have been designated historic landmarks by the city and must be incorporated into whatever projects the developer ultimately designs around them.

South Lake Union has a rich history that Vulcan likes to preserve and showcase when it can, says Vice President Ada Healey, because old buildings add character to the neighborhood.

And they appeal to some tenants, including Amazon.com, Healey says. The two towers around the Terry Avenue Building would be part of a six-block, 11-building headquarters campus that Vulcan is building for the Fortune 500 online retailer.

"It's a very cool thing,"Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith says of the Terry Avenue Building's preservation. "Little quirks and charms — they can add up to a lot."

The Amazon campus also will include the partly preserved and restored Van Vorst Building on the block to the north. It's a 1909 warehouse where the old Frederick & Nelson department store once may have stabled its delivery-wagon horses.

The Terry Avenue Building dates back to a time when South Lake Union served as downtown's storage closet and utility room. The neighborhood was home to warehouses, commercial laundries and the people who worked in them.

A Northern Pacific rail spur ran down Terry when the 21,000-square-foot, post-and-beam warehouse was built in 1915. A freight depot stood across the street.

The Terry Avenue Building has served as a truck factory, a cabinet warehouse and headquarters for Kelly-Goodwin, a hardwood-flooring distributor whose name still is visible on the north wall. Today, the building is partly vacant, partly offices. Healey says Vulcan plans to nominate it for city-landmark status.

Preliminary plan

Under Krech's preliminary plan, the old warehouse — right across the street from a stop on the new South Lake Union streetcar — would become shops or restaurants.

A newer one-story warehouse to the south would be demolished and replaced with a plaza and stairs leading east, up the hill from Terry, to a terrace. A walkway between the two new towers would link the terrace to Boren, creating an east-west passage across the entire block.

For the plan to work, however, the city would have to vacate part of an alley.

Plants might be installed on the Terry Avenue Building's roof, Krech says — to absorb rain that otherwise would run off into city storm drains, and to give the 2,800 Amazon workers in the two new buildings something interesting to look down on.

The towers' preliminary design calls for wide, tall windows, Spartan ornamentation and a textured exterior — perhaps brick or concrete rather than aluminum or glass. All are intended to create an updated warehouse look, Krech says.

It fits, he says, because 11 or 12 stories is a common height in old warehouse districts: Brick buildings couldn't be built any taller.

Vulcan hasn't always been enthusiastic about historic preservation. In 2000, it fought landmark designation for the Van Vorst Building and lost.

Two years later, however, the Landmarks Preservation Board approved a Vulcan plan to preserve the building's Mission Revival-style facade on Boren Avenue and parts of the north and south sides.

The rest of the old warehouse was demolished last month. The smaller, restored building will become Amazon offices and community meeting space.

Laundry landmark

The 1917 New Richmond Laundry, another landmark, was Vulcan's first foray into historic preservation in South Lake Union. Parts of the old brick industrial building became flats and lofts in Alley 24, a full-block, residential/retail/office development that opened in 2006.

Not everyone is a fan. Christine Palmer, now preservation advocate for the nonprofit group Historic Seattle, wrote in 2006 that despite everyone's best intentions, Alley 24's new construction "engulfs the old brick laundry."

"The final product is unrecognizable as a contributor to Seattle's heritage," Palmer wrote.

But Lloyd Douglas, president of the Cascade Neighborhood Council on the east side of South Lake Union, says he mostly likes what Vulcan has done to honor the area's history.

"They're tearing down a lot of stuff anyway," he says. "We like to see them keep alive the meaning of what used to be here."

Vulcan hasn't announced development plans for blocks that include two more designated landmarks — the ornate 1920s Pacific McKay and Ford McKay auto showrooms at Westlake and Mercer and the Supply Laundry Building in Cascade, which dates to 1908.

Part of the challenge will be finding new uses for those old buildings that work, says NBBJ principal David Yuan. NBBJ designed — and later moved into — Alley 24.

"Buildings, like Madonna, can have several lives," he says. "We need to respect the building's history, but it also needs to enhance the project it is becoming part of."

RUFUS 2.0

Adding reference info. Here at the design reviews which appear to be final at present:

Here is the preliminary for the 3-block Rufus Project: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/AppDocs/GroupMeetings/DRProposal3013154AgendaID3744.pdf

Here is a refinement for Block 19 on which the 'bio-domes' will sit: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/AppDocs/GroupMeetings/DRProposal3015022AgendaID4582.pdf

Sorry no pics. Posting 1000 words instead :)
 
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#164 ·
Mercer Demolition Update:

1120 Mercer St. (old Lincoln Towing) LEVELED
1123 Valley St. (old Sport Boat NW) LEVELED
613 Fairview Ave. N. (old Pong building) LEVELED
1104 Mercer St. (old Taco Del Mar) LEVELED
601 Boren Ave. N (old Shell station) LEVELED
1000 Mercer St. (old West Marine) LEVELED
800/816 Mercer St. (located at Mercer and Broad St.) IN PROGRESS
601 Westlake Ave. N. (parking garage at McKay site)
 
#165 ·
Another crane is scheduled to come down tomorrow - the big mobile is parked at the site and ready to go. Only 1 crane will still be up for Amazon.

On the east side of the Amazon campus this new place is about to open:
http://www.badmonkeybistro.com/

ANNOUNCEMENT: The City has finalized our Occupancy calculations and we are now waiting for Final Inspection, which will occur on Monday, June 7th. Baring any last issues, we anticipate being open for Monkey Business (Happy Hour) at 5pm on Monday!!
 
#167 ·
I've definitely noticed the Amazon folks around SLU the past couple months. The NW Soup shop on Westlake Ave N that used to be sleepy is now crammed for lunch is just one example. There are a fair number of dogs being walked by Amazon staff - there was never much of a dog walking population unless you were right near Rollin Street. Anyway, tonight was noteworthy because I stopped in at the Blue Moon Burger place on Republican and first of all almost every table was occupied and there was a line of a few people waiting to order at 6:15. That's not unusual for lunch but I think it's a new thing for dinner. What really got me was the table of about 7 guys and 1 girl where a couple of guys were having a loud argument about efficient coding: functions, calls, output, lookup, result sets A versus B - I don't know all the terms but it was pretty funny - like a dining hall discussion back in college. SLU has definitely changed!
by the way there is a 1/2 price burger deal on Wednesday evenings so maybe that brought in a few people.
 
#168 ·
Cool! I really hope that that area can get nice and lively. It needs more residential near the north end, though, to provide plenty of people at night and on weekends as well as during the day on weekdays. Hopefully residential skyscrapers will be built between Mercer and Valley after the SLU upzone. Lately whenever I go past the Westlake & Denny area I see a ton of people around, and that seems to be spreading a little bit down Westlake. Does anyone here ride the SLUT regularly, and, if so, have you noticed higher ridership?
 
#170 ·
Does anyone here ride the SLUT regularly, and, if so, have you noticed higher ridership?
I commute regulary on the streetcar in the mornings and I do notice an increase in patronage due to Amazon employees. And that will only continue upward as more transition to SELU. I 'm also noticing that midday, when ridership was low early on, there is now an uptick in passenger numbers. You are right that more residential needs to be built. I'm hoping that will happen.
 
#176 ·
As of the last week or so, it looks as though demolition of the old buildings along Mercer is complete. Ground breaking for actual construction is set to start in July.

One question for our construction folks. The 2 blocks closest to the freeway had concrete blocks stacked into a temporary (looking) retaining wall, and then fill was piled in behind it. Do they intend for that to be the new street level, or is that more for compacting the ground under it? If it is the new street level, it looks to be 4 or 5 feet above the current street level. Doesn't sound like a lot, but thats quite the crown in the road...
 
#180 ·
Retail at last!

First Tech Credit Union has moved in at 555 Terry Ave N. That's in the smaller Amazon building at Mercer and Terry occupied earlier this year. I guess they are also the first to advertise on the SLUT. There is an exterior wrap on on of the trains for 1st Tech CU.

More to come?
 
#183 ·
I'm putting this here so we can track Amazon retail/restaurants opening:

Here's the latest on the Tom Douglas venture in the remodeled Terry Avenue site (adjacent Phase IV). This is from Nancy Lesons weekly Seattle Times column:

Nearby at the Terry Avenue Building between Thomas and Harrison streets, there's more in store for Tom Douglas Restaurants: three (!) new ventures under construction and set to open in April. Downstairs, Douglas and his wife, Jackie Cross, will venture into Italian restaurant territory. "All the pasta will be made by hand, rolled — the way I like it — not extruded." Upstairs in the historic brick building, they're creating a tavern (21 and older) with a pretzel bar where you might hang out watching pretzel dough rise, boil then bake in a brick oven. Or feast your eyes on other entertainment: like darts, shuffleboard and the M's game on TV. Meanwhile, next door at the new 25-seat Tibetan restaurant Ting Momo, chef Deyki Thonden will have free rein to showcase her considerable dumpling-making skills, her boss says.
The first I'm hearing about Tibetan dumplings! Anyone know more?
 
#185 ·
Speaking of cranes in the Alto thread...today DBM (shoring contractor) is setting up a red crawler crane with lattice boom at the next Amazon phase (NW corner of Boren and John). Can someone clarify how/if people will still be able to park on top of the concrete building at the west side of the project? google map
 
#189 ·
Just a minute ago I noticed the drill rig drilling holes so they are really doing something. Looked like they were drilling for piles along the west edge of the site which I think is interesting since it seemed like they almost could have dug down and exposed the buried face of the neighboring building. Must not have been feasible for legal or technical reasons. Would have saved a lot of shoring work though.
 
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