July 6, 2021

Washington Park Building nearly ready for its refresh

Rendering by BuildingWork/Feature Graphics [enlarge]

This view looks north at the project; the penthouse will be nearly invisible from the street.

Lake Union Partners, Unico Properties, W.G. Clark Construction and architect BuildingWork have the construction permit necessary to overhaul the little old structure at 68 S. Washington St. , aka the Washington Park Building.

It now looks to be mostly vacant there on the corner of Alaskan Way South — which is itself being massively rebuilt.

All that remains before the renovation/addition project can begin is approval from the Pioneer Square Preservation District Board, which will receive its final briefing on the plan tomorrow in a virtual presentation. The board gave preliminary approval in April.

The basic program for the over century-old, three-story building is a full seismic retrofit, new building systems and new elevator and stair cores. One non-original mezzanine will be removed. Two smaller mezzanines will be added. With the addition of a new penthouse, the renovated building will end up with about 48,000 square feet.

Minor changes to the plan are for more office space on the ground floor, with about 4,049 square feet, and the reduction of planned restaurant space to about 1,469 square feet. The ground-floor office space will be pushed west, closer to the waterfront, with an entry on Washington. With its own separate entry, the restaurant will be pushed east, to Post Avenue.

On a more cosmetic level, the cornice will be repaired (after damage in the 1949 earthquake), windows and masonry will be restored and new retractable awnings will be added. The the building entries will be simplified and clarified. The architect believes the old front door, on Alaskan, was relocated to Washington following the construction of the viaduct. That old Roman arched entry remains on the west side of the building, and will be restored for office tenants.

Unico had earlier targeted May as a start date; construction is expected to last about a year. The team also includes Geoengineers; KPFF, civil; Coughlin Porter Lundeen, structural engineer; Robison Engineering, MEP; ABBAE, envelope; and Rushing, electrical and lighting.

Assuming board approval and a summer start, the project will be first in line among Unico's other planned renovation jobs in its Boutique Office Portfolio (BOP). Others to follow, with varying degrees of complexity and size, are the Grand Central Block, the Korn Walker Block and the Colman Building.

No budget has been offered for the Washington Park Building project, which will employ federal historic tax credits. The name could change by the time leasing efforts begin. It was originally developed circa 1890 as the Lowman & Hanford Printing and Binding Building.