May 18, 2016

Maritime Building will add just 3 floors, not 8

Photo by Benjamin Minnick [enlarge]

The Landmarks Preservation Board will get a briefing today about scaled back plans for redeveloping the Maritime Building at 911 Western Ave. in downtown Seattle.

The meeting is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Seattle City Hall in Room L280.

Boston-based Beacon Capital Partners purchased the five-story, 140,000-square-foot office building last year for $13.1 million and initially said it would add eight stories, with office space on two floors and 114 apartments on six floors.

But that plan has changed.

The 1910 building was declared a city landmark in January so the exterior can't be altered without first getting approval from the landmarks board.

NBBJ is the architect.

In a document filed with the city, the architects said they have redesigned the project because of the landmark status.

“The Landmarks Architectural Review Board felt that the proportions of the addition did not match the Maritime Building's horizontal look and feel and... the residential component of the project has since been removed,” the document said.

The plan now is to renovate the existing building and add three stories with 48,400 square feet of office space. Retail along Western Avenue would remain.

An early design guidance meeting on the project was held in early January, before the proposed addition was reduced from eight stories to three. A design recommendation meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. June 21 at Seattle City Hall.