619 western ave
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CURRENT PRESS RELEASES
 
619 WESTERN AVE ARTISTS BUILDING 1997 ~ 2012  
REBORN ?
LATEST NEWS HERE
 
619 Press Release
For Immediate Release



DECEMBER 19, 2009
Seattle, Washington - Pioneer Square
One Hundred Artists & Fifty Plus Studios 
The 619 Western Avenue Building is home to more than 100 creative artists
working from more than 70 studios. Since 1981 the Artists have had open studios
to share themselves and their Art with the neighborhood and community. 


There is most likely that 
Longitude 47.60 -122.33 Latitude
will
No Longer Be the Study, Educational, Creative, Social, Humanitarian, Labratory
at
619 WESTERN AVENUE
by

March 2012
•

The 619 Western Ave building, built in 1910, has been a creative enclave for Artists since 1979.
Many notable local, national and international Artists have and have had
their Art studios at 619 Western Ave at the northwest corner of  the 
Pioneer Square Historical District.
Today is a creative enterprise that is drawing national attention as Seatle's
Premier Studio Art Building. 

What Will It Be this Longitude & Latitude when The Tunnel Snakes Under It?
 
Will a New 619 Arrise?  
###
Media Contacts:  
Edd Cox  206-447-9667  eddcox@earthlink.net  
619 western Ave  Fifth Floor South  Seattle, Wa. 9810-1440
Press Release - Photographs
619 western artists
619 GROUP PORTRAIT

December 21, 2010

Western Building to be rehabbed or demolished for tunnel project

· Tenants have been told they must vacate the building at 619 Western Ave. by March of 2012.
By KATIE ZEMTSEFF
Journal Staff Reporter
The Western Building at 619 Western Ave. will either get a thorough structural rehab or be demolished as crews prepare to bore an almost two-mile tunnel under downtown to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The building's fate will likely be decided by the end of January.

With a 57-foot diameter, the machine needed to dig the proposed tunnel would be the largest boring machine in the world.

The Western Building sits on about 50 feet of soft fill. It has pilings that are rotting and is in poor structural condition.

The tunneling machine will work under 137 buildings but Ron Paananen, administrator of the Washington State Department of Transportation project team, said this is the only one that may need to be demolished. “This is the one that we're most concerned about.”

Paananen said one of the challenges is the risk of settling. The machine would drill beneath one side of the Western Building. Combined with the soft fill, settlement could occur more on one side than the other. Without any mitigation, the west side of the building could settle up to 2.4 inches, compared to almost no settlement on the east side.

The top of the tunnel would pass between 70 and 90 feet below the building, through hard soil. The tunnel work is expected to begin around King Street, about four blocks away from the Western Building. The machine would likely pass under the Western Building in the first or second quarter of 2013.

WSDOT will work with the Mayers family, which owns the building, as well as the state's historic preservation office, Seattle's historic preservation office, the Pioneer Square Preservation Board and others to decide whether to remove or rehab the building.

Rehabbing would require cross bracing, steel framework, new piles and extensive foundation work. Paananen said it would take at least a year of work before the building could survive tunneling.

The rehab would be similar to work done previously on the Polson Building next door, which is also owned by the Mayers family. Benjamin Mayers launched Ace Novelty Co. in the Polson Building decades ago.

Paananen said they hope to make a decision by the end of January because it must be included in the state's final environmental impact statement, which is due in early June.

Either option would require WSDOT obtain a temporary construction easement.

WSDOT would pay to retrofit the building or would buy and demolish it, leaving the owner to redevelop the site after the viaduct project is complete.

WSDOT also needs to get subsurface property rights from the owner.

Regardless of which option is chosen, tenants have been told they must vacate the Western Building by March of 2012.

More than 100 artists now rent space in the building. Each tenant will receive compensation and relocation assistance. Paananen said WSDOT officials hope to keep the artists in Pioneer Square.

Kay Kirkpatrick is a mixed-media, sculpture and installation artist who does public art. She has rented space in the building since 1988 and says the news isn't surprising.

“I was in this building during the (2001) earthquake and I totally think that it has to go,” she said. “It's probably better served to just get rid of it and put in a new version.”

Kirkpatrick said 619 Western has served as an incubator for up and coming artists. There are other places artists can go but many have long wait lists for space or higher rents. Whatever happens, she doesn't think artists will be able to afford space in a new or rehabbed building on the site.

WSDOT has done studies on all buildings along the tunnel route and says no others will pose similar problems. The design-build team will have extensive monitoring to make sure buildings aren't negatively affected.

Kirkpatrick is more concerned about Pioneer Square. With the loss of Elliott Bay Book Co., the loss of artists now in 619 Western and the downsizing of First Avenue for utility work related to the viaduct replacement, she said small businesses will have a tough time.

“I just feel like the square is just doomed for 10 years,” she said. “For patrons of the arts or anything in the square, it's just going to be grim. It's just going to be the lunch crowd for a few years.”