Seattle Municipal Tower is a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

in downtown

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. At , it is the fifth-tallest building in the city. Completed in 1990, it was initially named AT&T Gateway Tower and subsequently KeyBank Tower after its anchor tenants

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

and

KeyBank KeyBank, the primary subsidiary of KeyCorp, is a regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and is the only major bank based in Cleveland. KeyBank is one of the largest banks in the United States. Key's customer base spans retail, small b ...

. It was given its current name on May 17, 2004.

History

The skyscraper was proposed as early as 1981 under the preliminary name of "Sixth & Columbia Building" by developer Sixth and Columbia Associates under the lead of

Herman Sarkowsky Herman Sarkowsky (June 9, 1925 – November 2, 2014) was a Seattle, Washington, United States businessman, philanthropist, thoroughbred breeder, and former sports executive. He was a co-founder of two Pacific Northwest sports franchises, the Portl ...

and Delbert Belfoy. The site of the skyscraper was originally occupied by the 95-unit Doris and Breslin Apartments on the northeast quarter; the rest of the block, owned by the

Washington State Department of Transportation The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT or WashDOT, both ) is a governmental agency that constructs, maintains, and regulates the use of transportation infrastructure in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. Establi ...

(WSDOT), included a small park and reversible express ramps to

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...

(I-5). Two office tower proposals were presented for the site in the draft environmental impact statement: a 55-story one with of space on the site of the apartments; and a 65-story one with square feet of space on the northern half of the site, with the southern half occupied by a low-rise parking garage and a

shopping arcade A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

. The 65-story proposal

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

ed over the I-5 ramps, requiring the developer to lease the

air rights Air rights are the property interest in the "space" above the earth's surface. Generally speaking, owning, or renting, land or a building includes the right to use and build in the space above the land without interference by others. This legal ...

of the ramps from WSDOT; it also included a

skyway A skyway, skybridge, skywalk, or sky walkway is an elevated type of pedway connecting two or more buildings in an urban area, or connecting elevated points within mountainous recreational zones. Urban skyways very often take the form of enclos ...

across Columbia Street to the Seafirst Fifth Avenue Plaza Building. The proposals resulted in the apartments' tenants, represented by the Seattle Displacement Coalition, filing a lawsuit in

King County Superior Court The Superior Court of Washington for King County (more commonly, the King County Superior Court) is the largest trial court in Washington state. It is based at the King County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue, in downtown Seattle, Washington. It als ...

on January 21, 1981, against Sarkowsky and Belfoy; they also sued the apartments' owner,

CHG International CHG International was an American real estate developer that rose to prominence in the 1980s, primarily in Seattle, Washington. The company was formed in 1971 by Henry Griffin and Clint Hergert and began buying up property in Downtown Seattle in ...

, of which Sarkowsky and Belfoy were board members. The tenants claimed that CHG violated a 1979 agreement with the coalition to maintain the apartments, refrain from evicting tenants without cause or replacement housing, and create alternative

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affo ...

options. The City of Seattle purchased Key Tower in early 1996 to house utilities and general government functions. The purchase price was $124 million, or $124 per square foot. The city purchased the property during a downturn in the economy, citing recommendations from two panels: the citizens' group, Capital Finance Review Board, which concluded that purchasing the building would cost a minimum of $47 million less than constructing new facilities and a minimum of $121 million less than renovating existing city facilities; and the Citizens Advisory Panel, which concluded that the building "(met) the great majority of the city's space needs." The building is attached to the

Seattle Civic Center The Seattle Civic Center is a building complex in Seattle, Washington. The complex comprises several buildings owned by the City of Seattle and King County that cover several city blocks. The buildings include: * King County Administration Buildi ...

complex and is owned by the city. It houses several government offices including the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections,

Seattle City Light Seattle City Light is the public utility providing electricity to Seattle, Washington, in the United States, and parts of its metropolitan area, including all of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park and parts of unincorporated King County, Burien, N ...

Seattle Public Utilities Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is a public utility agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, which provides water, sewer, drainage and garbage services for 1.3 million people in King County, Washington. The agency was established in 1997, co ...

, the Department of IT, Human Services Department, and the Office of Economic Development. The

Seattle City Council The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-lar ...

and offices of the

Mayor of Seattle The Mayor of Seattle is the head of the executive branch of the city government of Seattle, Washington. The mayor is authorized by the city charter to enforce laws enacted by the Seattle City Council, as well as direct subordinate officers in ci ...

are located in the nearby

Seattle City Hall Seattle City Hall (also known as the Seattle Municipal Building) is the home of the offices of the mayor and city council of Seattle, Washington, located between 4th Avenue and 5th Avenue in the downtown area of the city. Most city departments h ...

Design

The Municipal Tower was designed by Bassetti/Norton/Metler/Rekevics Architects, who inherited the project via its acquisition of original architect Karlis Rekevics in December 1984. Bassetti also designed the

Henry M. Jackson Federal Building The Henry M. Jackson Federal Building (JFB) is a 37-story Federal government of the United States, United States Federal Government skyscraper in downtown Seattle, Washington. Located on the block bounded by Marion and Madison Streets and First a ...

and was the co-architect for the current

. * The stairs between the plaza, lobby and tunnel levels are unusual and its site has the challenge of straddling a freeway entrance ramp. * The main lobby is floor 4, not floor 1 as is usual in American buildings. * The elevators are divided into lower and upper tiers. In order to reach floors above 40, visitors must take an elevator to the "sky lobby" on 40 and transfer to a second elevator to continue upward. Also, to reach floor 62 or "The Tip", one must transfer to a private elevator at floor 61 using an encoded badge. * The building's three restaurants are on an upper plaza (6th floor) and only one has an inside entrance. * The plaza and tunnel levels can not be reached by the main elevators. They also require an elevator transfer, in this case the parking-garage elevators on floor 4; or via the decorative staircase. * The glass cupola at the building's crest is not occupied space; it contains elevator equipment.

References

External links

Seattle Municipal Tower official website
{{Seattle Skyscrapers Government buildings in Seattle Skyscraper office buildings in Seattle Government buildings completed in 1990 Office buildings completed in 1990 1990s architecture in the United States 1990 establishments in Washington (state) Downtown Seattle

History

Design

See also

References

External links