The apocalypse is nigh: the McGuire, a 9-year-old, 25-story, 272-unit apartment building, will be torn down by the end of the year. Dismantled. Carted away like a tar-paper shack. All that scaffolding, all those repairs: for naught.
The first inkling actually came yesterday from CHS, the Capitol Hill Seattle blog, which reported on a "move" out of Belltown to 12th Avenue by The Local Vine, the wine bar at Second and Vine. The owners of Local Vine had often talked about cloning the concept in other neighborhoods, and had in fact scouted the 12th Avenue location for a second venture. But what's up?
More news on Igor Keller's ironically titled blog, Hideous Belltown, especially in the comments. The formal announcement came this afternoon from the building owner, Carpenter's Tower LLC, citing "extensive construction defects, which principally involve corrosion of post-tensioned cables and concrete material and reinforcement placement deficiencies."
Huh? Turns out, the cables are corroding because they were not properly protected with corrosion-preventative paint, the grout used to seal the cable ends and anchors was not the specified non-shrink grout, and it was defectively installed. "As a result," the announcement continues, "water leaked into these areas and caused the cable ends to rust, and then corrode." What's more, reinforcement in the building's exterior frame turns out to be defective, resulting in structural impairment and cracking of the building's concrete shell.
In other words, a nightmare. The problem is intractable, the owners have concluded, and they've decided to dismantle the building. "The McGuire is not in imminent danger of a structural failure," according to Brian Urback, a consultant hired by Carpenter's Tower. However, he acknowledges, "the experts have advised that the building be vacated by the end of 2010."
Seattle's Department of Development is not requiring immediate evacuation, and Carpenter's Tower is providing an incentive package to help tenants relocate. "We recognize that this is a major inconvenience so we are trying to make it as easy as possible under difficult circumstances," according to the official statement. The landlord is providing "what we think are generous financial incentives if they move quickly. We are paying moving expenses. And we are having our building staff help them find new apartments."
Says one tenant, on the HideousBelltown blog, "All tenants are urged to move out, with staggered incentives if they leave before June 30. For instance, if you rent a 1-bed apartment and move out before May 15, they pay you $2,000 (for the 1-bed apartment) plus three times your monthly rent."
The Centennial Tower, an apartment complex just east of the McGuire, is already picking up some of the slack; their leasing office reports seven units rented this afternoon.
But the McGuire isn't the first Belltown building with "issues." Five years ago, Seattle Heights was similaly swathed in scaffolding, with the added indignity of a Tyvek shroud, while work crews replaced every window and sliding door in the 28-story luxury condo. Lawsuits flew, insurance companies settled, and homeowners gritted their teeth and eventually paid large assessments to cover the shortfall. The problem had to do with improperly installed and slowly rotting window insulation, a condition that appeared to spread like a measles outbreak across several Belltown highrises.
The McGuire--built as a joint venture between the Carpenters Union and Harbor Properties as a showcase of "everyone wins" land use--seemed to suffer a series of unfortunate relapses. Now they're pulling the plug. And just how do you remove a 25-story concrete building in the middle of Seattle's most densely populated neighborhood? Very, very carefully.
Worst irony: the Harbor Properties website touts the McGuire as a "success story."
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