March 1, 2004
Photo by Jon Silver
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Sellen Construction is clearing the way for Washington Mutual's new 42-story office tower at Second Avenue and Union Street.
The tower will share the block with the Seattle Art Museum and a new 300,000-square-foot museum addition.
The contractor has started major demolition of the 78-year-old, seven-story Museum Plaza Building. Much of the building interior has been gutted, leaving the exterior to tear down.
The tear-down work mostly will be done with two long-reach track hoes. The largest track hoe reaches 154 feet -- roughly 10 stories.
The 229,000-pound track hoe was brought here from Japan for this project because it is quieter and safer than other demolition methods, such as wrecking balls, according to museum officials. Its jaw opens 24 inches and has a crushing force of 584,000 pounds.
Sellen executive Scott Redman said demolition will continue until May. Crews will work around the perimeter of the building on weekends, when street traffic is lightest. During the week, crews will move inside to work on the interior.
Much of the building will be salvaged or recycled, including the concrete, rebar, doors and hardware. But the limestone cladding is doomed to destruction.
Once the site is cleared, construction on the new buildings is slated to begin.
Washington Mutual is scheduled to move in 2006, with the SAM addition to be completed in 2007.
The owner of the projects is 1301 Second Avenue LLC. Developers are the Pine Street Group and the Seneca Real Estate Group.
NBBJ is the architect for the office tower and executive architect for the museum addition. Allied Works Architecture of Portland is the design architect for the addition. The demolition subcontractor is R.W. Rhine.
