For more than a week, we’ve been tracking demolition on the site of Equity Residential‘s two-building West Seattle Junction project. Above is the east half, at 42nd/Alaska, where final cleanup is under way. Susan Melrose of the WS Junction Association tells WSB they’ve been notified that demolition will begin Monday on the west-side building at California/Alaska:
Note the protective enclosures on the trees; Melrose also says that sidewalks around that building will be closed TEMPORARILY for next week’s demolition work.
First, she shares the notice from the general contractor, Andersen Construction:
Demolition of the West Building located at 4706 California Avenue SW will commence on Monday 10/21/13. The sidewalks and parking located along California Avenue and SW Alaska Street will be closed to pedestrians during this time. Demolition work will be complete by 10/25/13.
Next, Melrose’s update, stressing that this is a temporary closure:
The Junction Association is working with the construction company to minimize impacts to our neighborhood and to keep The Junction walkable. I would like to convey to the neighborhood that this will be the only time that the sidewalks on California Ave and Alaska St will be closed. The next 18 months might be noisy and at times inconvenient, but your loyal Junction businesses look forward to your continued patronage. The demolition of this building is a notable day in Junction history.
Some of that history was discussed in this WSB update, which included a half-century-old aerial photo of the area.
Project backstory: The Equity buildings are both planned at seven stories, totaling about 200 apartments, with more than 200 underground parking spaces and ground-floor retail (no tenants announced yet). The project went through the city approval process under its previous ownership, Bellevue-based Conner Homes, which put it up for sale in August 2011 (WSB coverage here) and closed the sale to Chicago-based Equity Residential in December 2011 (WSB coverage here). The businesses in the two buildings were cleared out in summer of last year, but construction was delayed – without explanation – until now.
| 21 COMMENTS