The Starbucks Center (formerly the SODO Center) is the world headquarters of the

coffeehouse chain This list of notable coffeehouse chains catalogues the spread and Market share, markets share of coffeehouses world-wide. This list excludes the many companies which operate coffeeshops within retail establishments, notably bookstores and departme ...

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...

. It is located in the SoDo neighborhood of Seattle, Washington; the area is part of the city's large industrial district. Starbucks Center is the largest multi-tenant building by floor space in Seattle, with over . It is both the largest and oldest building in the country to earn a national green certification.

History

In 1915, the building was constructed by

Sears, Roebuck and Co. Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began as ...

to fulfill the Sears Catalog in the Western United States. It was added on the north side of an original 1912 building. Sears opened their retail store at this location in 1925. According to the owner, this was the world's oldest continuously operated Sears store (though the Sears store on Lawrence Ave in Chicago opened in the same year and operated until 2016). The building was repeatedly expanded during the 20th century. After the Sears catalog business was closed, the building was sold in 1990, and eventually redeveloped as the SoDo Center. Starbucks began moving its administrative offices to the old Sears building in 1993. On June 20, 1997, the coffeehouse chain moved its headquarters to the SoDo Center, became the building's primary tenant, and secured the naming rights. Accordingly, the building's name was duly changed from the SoDo Center to the Starbucks Center. The building underwent significant renovation following severe damage caused by the

2001 Nisqually earthquake The 2001 Nisqually earthquake occurred at on February 28, 2001 and lasted nearly a minute. The intraslab earthquake had a moment magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''). The epicenter was in the southern Puget So ...

. The Sears department store closed in June 2014 along with its nearby Sears Auto Center. In the first quarter of 2017,

Amazon Fresh Amazon Fresh is a subsidiary of the American e-commerce company Amazon in Seattle, Washington. It is a grocery retailer with physical stores and delivery services in most major U.S. cities, as well as some international cities, such as Berlin, Ha ...

's newest service, AmazonFresh Pickup, began operating out of the location.

References

{{SoDo, Seattle Office buildings completed in 1912 Office buildings in Seattle Starbucks 1912 establishments in Washington (state) Sears Holdings buildings and structures SoDo, Seattle Food and drink company headquarters in the United States