There will be no "percussive activities" before 8, after 5, or on weekends. That's the good news for Belltown neighbors of the 25-story McGuire Apartments, the deeply flawed building at Second & Wall Sts. in Belltown that's facing a painstaking, year-long dismantling starting next month. (Background is here.)
However, just because the ear-splitting jackhammers will only be allowed 45 hours a week, don't think there will be no round-the-clock impact on Seattle's densest neighborhood. The demolition contractor, LeaseCrutcher (whose website, ironically, is "LewisBuilds.com") intends to minimize the use of "impact" tools (i.e., jackhammers) by using hydraulic cutting and "crumbling" to create an onsite heap of, well, rubble.
That process, in turn, will create a lot of fine dust particles. So much that the Triton Building, one block east, will receive a special set of filters for its air intake ducts. No word yet whether Seattle Heights, the condo tower across the street from the McGuire, where these words are being typed, will be similarly protected.
From the world of videogames ("Battle in Belltown"?) come the machines that will do the actual munching, the Brokk 160s, bright yellow, remote-controlled devices that will take the McGuire apart, one floor at a time, and dump the debris into the stripped elevator shafts into a parade of waiting dump trucks.
The project starts next month, according to the city permit issued this week, and will last at least a year. When it's all over, the lot will be regraded (3,000 cubic yards of soil) and made ready for the next mega-development.
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