Tower crane coming down at Spruce after 16 months

| Development | West Seattle news

By midmorning, the tower crane at Madison Development‘s Spruce project (3922 SW Alaska, once known as “The Hole”) was a shadow of its former self. Sixteen months after it went up, it’s coming down, as previewed here on Wednesday. This has been arguably the most-visible tower crane in West Seattle this year, not just because of the sharper angle at which its jib has been raised, but because the holiday lights installed last year have stayed up, a prominent feature on West Seattle’s nighttime skyline. Now, though, the apartments-and-health-club project is a few months from completion, and it’s time for the crane to go.

Thanks again to Steve for the tip about the alert notice distributed to nearby residents, which suggested this will be a two-day job. Once this is gone, West Seattle will have two working tower cranes for now – at California/Alaska/42nd and 40th/Edmunds – but the one for 4435 35th SW is likely not far away. (If you’re interested – here’s an explanation of how tower cranes work.)

ADDED THURSDAY EVENING: Thanks to David for sharing this photo taken as he passed the crane-removal operation late in the day:

David October 2, 2014 (1:09 pm)

Nice…too bad they can’t save some time and just roll that across the street and park it for use with the new “Whole Foods” project. Heck, that project might need two cranes because of the length of that “block”.

w.s. maverick October 2, 2014 (2:57 pm)

goodbye

Patrice October 2, 2014 (4:47 pm)

Great, when will they repave the road next to it (bowling alley, et al.)? That one block of road is more like a gravel road, and needs repair.

David October 2, 2014 (6:19 pm)

I hope they do…but the road belongs to the city, not that property owner. Maybe the city will throw a little more “importance” to it now…they didn’t fix it when Trader Joe’s went in…but to be fair, they knew the other construction project was coming and would probably chew it up, so might as well wait until it’s down (now). With this building, and the new “Whole Foods”, this mostly abandoned corner of junk/empty storefronts, gas stations and asphalt will finally look NICE. Yeah, totally understand the issues about growth, but this is what it takes. NO ONE in the last 20 years bothered to fix up those EXISTING properties, so if this is what it takes, so be it. West Seattle is a major neighborhood in a major fast growing city constrained by geography (water/land) so it’s going to get more dense. If that bothers you, I’d suggest Wyoming…LOTS of open land :) And although the financing had to be reworked (it was a mess), if we had gone ahead and built the original monorail project we’d ALREADY have grade separated mass transit in and out of West Seattle right now. Light rail will probably come in like 25 years, decades later…oh well. Moot point now.

Nw October 2, 2014 (6:57 pm)

Frankly it would be just fine with me if the auto supply store went back in and the fabric store beside it with the lot out front to park in its neglected state. To be honest I wish also they would not stop with dismantling the crane but the entire project! Give us back West Seattle!

m October 2, 2014 (7:27 pm)

@Nw. And tear down the West Seattle bridge and replace all these pesky cars with horse and buggies like the good old days

Simma donna October 3, 2014 (7:20 am)

@M: The rapid griwth and change in WS is just a little shocking to it’s long time residents. No need to be rude.

Simma donna October 3, 2014 (7:28 am)

@David: ditto on the monorail. Dont even get me started. I’m still a bitter kitten over it. : (

HelperMonkey October 3, 2014 (9:20 am)

bring back the West Seattle street car line!

West Seattle since 1979 October 3, 2014 (11:05 am)

A streetcar with its own bridge or dedicated lane on the bridge would be awesome!

adam October 3, 2014 (12:04 pm)

when is LA Fitness going to open?

WSB October 3, 2014 (12:13 pm)

Don’t know. They don’t respond to media inquiries. But the 2nd/Columbia club downtown has a sign in the window inviting people to ask there regarding pre-sales. (Noticed this while riding by on a bus this week.) – TR

Sorry, comment time is over.