9-year-old Belltown high-rise too flawed to fix

Residents and business owners in the McGuire Building in the Belltown neighborhood were told over the weekend that the building is not structurally sound and they need to move out as soon as possible. The building's owners, Carpenter's Tower, said it plans to demolish the building.

More of the story here



The building was finished in April of 2001, a 25 story building, apartments, and store fronts.
The building had been built for less then $40 million, but nine years later, the costs to repair is estimated at $80 million.

As we often say down here........ AYYY, Chihuahua!!!!!!!!

Hmm, judging by the number of problems and the cost to repair them I think that builder may have also built my house!

-rick

My son and daughter in law just rented in an apartment down the street. They locked in a one year lease just before the announcement. Rent is now 20% higher than they're paying.

Sad part is it was an investment for the carpenters union retirement fund ......

quote; Sad part is it was an investment for the carpenters union retirement fund ......

In that case, it could be part of the reason for the problems. Union fund administrators do not have the best records for eithical behavior. Some of them drive VERY nice cars and live in very luxurious homes/mansions.

The builder response is that there is no reason for destruction of the building.

More of the story here.

The company that built the McGuire Apartments in Belltown says the building is safe and there's no reason to tear it down. The statement came a day after the 9-year-old building's owner, Carpenter's Tower LLC, announced the 25-story tower would be vacated by Dec. 31, then demolished, because of construction defects too expensive to fix.

"With reasonable remediation, maintenance and monitoring, long-term ongoing operations could continue."

Belltown building won't be imploded.
It will be taken down one story at a time.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011642329_salvage19m.html

If the McGuire Apartments high-rise in Belltown is indeed demolished next year, it couldn't be imploded like the Kingdome in 2000. Instead, each floor would need to be cut apart, their concrete slabs gingerly lowered by crane, from the top down.

The concrete floors are laced with about 5,000 steel reinforcing tendons, under high pressure. Cut them the wrong way, and pieces of the structure could become lethal projectiles