Tag Archives: convention center

City warns about protests as organizers say Boeing has changed plans for Aerospace and Defense Supplier Summit underway at convention center

Posted on by

Organizers planning protests against this week’s 2024 Aerospace and Defense Supplier Summit at Seattle’s downtown convention center say Boeing’s decision to move some of the multi-day event online show their efforts are making an impact.

The City of Seattle sent a bulletin to neighborhood business groups around downtown and Capitol Hill warning about possible protests and unrest related to the summit. “There may be demonstrations and traffic disruptions in your area related to a Seattle Convention Center event taking place 3/12 – 3/14,” the bulletin shared by the Capitol Hill Business Alliance reads. Continue reading →

911 | First Hill sexual assault investigation, Summit/Pike shootout report, Sakura-Con swatting, and 10th Ave E scooter battery apartment fire

Posted on by

See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt/Signal (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS 911 coverage here. Hear sirens and wondering what’s going on? Check out Twitter reports from @jseattle or join and check in with neighbors in the CHS Facebook Group.

  • First Hill sexual assault investigation: Police are seeking witnesses to an assault early Monday on First Hill:
    On April 7th at approximately 7:53 a.m., there was a serious assault that took place near Madison Street and Terry Avenue. Detectives are looking for additional witnesses including a witness who tried to assist the victim and walk with her to the Emergency Room at Virginia Mason Medical Center. If you have any information, please contact the SPD Sexual Assault/Child Abuse unit at (206) 684-5575.
  • Pike/Pine gunfire: Seattle Police responded to the area around Summit and Pike early Tuesday morning after multiple 911 callers reported gunfire in the area and at least one witness reported two men shooting at each other. According to East Precinct radio updates, around ten gunshots were reported just before 5:30 AM. Police were able to locate a person at a nearby apartment believed to have been connected to the altercation and were interviewing her but reported no immediate arrests. There were no reported injuries or damage at the scene. Continue reading →

Seattle Convention Center’s $2B ‘Summit’ expansion — a big bet on a chunk of downtown and reshaping a connection to Capitol Hill — to debut in January

Posted on by

(Image: Seattle Convention Center)

Seattle’s $2 billion convention center expansion that has reshaped one of the key connections between Capitol Hill and downtown Seattle will host its first event in January. The expansion debuts in an uncertain era for the convention industry and work-related travel.

The developers of the project have announced a January 25th grand opening of the Seattle Convention Center’s new Summit expansion that adds just under 600,000 square feet of space in the new multistory building that has been under construction along Pine since 2018. The nearly double convention capacity arrives as recent years of pandemic restrictions and societal changes have reshaped how people work and travel.

“More than a decade ago, the Center’s board of directors determined that the economic impact benefiting the state of Washington could be substantially increased by the addition of a second SCC facility,” the press release on the grand opening reads. “This is highlighted by the fact that between 2012 and 2015, the Center turned away over 300 potential events due to the unavailability of space in the Arch Building on the dates desired.”

The original building debuted in June, 1988, by the way.

The announcement from officials and developer the Pine Street Group also contains a whiff of an idle threat alluding to the decision for the convention center board to choose to expand downtown — and not in Bellevue. “Congratulations are in order to the board for having the vision to build two stacked buildings in downtown Seattle,” Frank Finneran, chair of the SCC board of directors, said in the announcement. “This project was more complex and difficult than building in the suburbs, but the vision has now become a reality.” Continue reading →

This company just bet $60M against the future of business travel to convert a hotel at the base of Capitol Hill into apartments — meanwhile, down the street, Seattle is expanding its Convention Center

Posted on by

(Image: Hilton)

The end of business travel as we know it means the “highest and best use” of an extended stay hotel at the base of Capitol Hill above downtown Seattle will be as an overhauled apartment building.

PEG Companies, a Provo, Utah-based “vertically integrated real estate development and investment firm known for its unique approach to creating value,” has acquired the Homewood Suites by Hilton building on Pike near the Seattle Convention Center for $60 million with plans to convert the eight-story extended stay hotel into a new AVIA Apartments building, CHS has learned.

King County records and Seattle construction permits reveal the June acquisition of the 1991-built hotel and plan for the company that has made acquiring large extended stay buildings a core of its strategy. Continue reading →

In preparation for $10M overhaul, Freeway Park considered for Seattle landmarks protections

Posted on by

(Image: City of Seattle)

Part of the city’s connective tissue between Capitol Hill, First Hill, and downtown, and a possible first piece of a puzzle in someday capping I-5’s route through Seattle with parks, commercial development, and housing, Freeway Park could soon be an official landmark.

The Seattle Parks space’s nomination for protections of its 1970s era design and municipal brutalism will go up for consideration in front of the landmarks board Wednesday.

David Graves, a strategic advisor for the parks department, said it was time to consider the protections following its 2019 placement on the National Register of Historic Places and as the city gears up for a $10 million overhaul of the unique — and uniquely challenged — park.

Graves said the pandemic-delayed upgrades are now planned to begin early next year when the project is put out to bid in early 2023. “We will be working with the Landmarks Preservation Board to make sure all improvements are consistent with the landmarks designations,” Graves said. Continue reading →

Worker dies in reported equipment fall at convention center construction site — UPDATE

Posted on by

(Image: SDOT)

One worker was reported dead after equipment reportedly fell from an upper level of the downtown convention center construction site Monday afternoon.

Seattle Fire was called to the 9th Ave scene just before 2 PM for a “rescue extrication” call at the construction site but a department spokesperson said the person was dead at the scene. According to Seattle Fire radio updates, a lift reportedly fell from the second level of the construction site near 9th and Pine. Continue reading →

Born on the 4th of July, Freeway Park’s targeted improvements move forward

Posted on by

By Ryan Packer

On Sunday, Freeway Park turned 45 years old. Seattle’s often overlooked lid over I-5, and the first city park anywhere that was constructed over an existing freeway, always seems to be in a race against time. The Brutalist fountain still carries a heavy air of a different era, thanks largely in part to the fact that maintenance hasn’t quite kept up with need. The nooks and crannies these days are only for the most curious. But the latest attempt to give Freeway Park a new sparkle is moving forward.

The improvements are planned after a cash infusion coming from the expansion of the Washington State Convention Center blocks away. Out of the $10 million coming as part of a public benefits package, only $6 million will be available for construction of physical improvements to the park. The rest will mostly go toward “design and project management, permitting, sales tax and contingencies”, with a $750,000 slice set aside for park activation. A master plan of an estimated $23 million in improvements has been narrowed down to fit inside the $6 million budget. Continue reading →

Developer: City of Seattle will consider loan to help patch $300M convention center expansion financing gap

Posted on by

The City of Seattle is exploring providing a loan to help the Washington State Convention Center “overcome a coronavirus-induced financing gap,” the developer of the $1.9 billion project says.

The announcement follows December’s efforts from King County officials to shape a possible $100 million loan to help patch a $300 million financing hole in the “4/5ths” complete project to expand the downtown convention center along Pine between downtown and Capitol Hill.

“The City believes that completion of the WSSC Summit Addition project is critical for the long-term future of Seattle’s economy. In addition, continued work on the Addition will provide hundreds of family-wage construction jobs right now, which will help the community more quickly recover from the current recession,” City of Seattle Senior Deputy Mayor Michael Fong said in a letter committing to the proposal, according to expansion project officials.

Any loan from the city would require City Council approval. Expansion project developer the Pine Street Group says both the county and the city loans would “depends on participation by the State.” Continue reading →

‘4/5ths’ — County proposal would make big loan to help patch part of $300M financing hole in Seattle’s massive, nearly complete convention center expansion

Posted on by

Crews pouring the roof deck at the Summit Addition last week at the Washington State Convention Center (Image: Lease Crutcher Lewis)

The developer of the massive convention center expansion under construction downtown says the project is seeking help from the the city, the state, and the county in patching a $300 million hole in its finances from the COVID-19 crisis. Thursday, King County Executive Dow Constantine announced he will step forward first with a proposed $100 million loan for the project from cash part of the county’s $3.4 billion investment pool.

But the city, and the state will have to follow suit, apparently.

“No, this is not enough,” Matt Griffin of developer Pine Street Group said in a press conference Thursday to discuss the proposed $100 million loan.

Constantine called the loan proposal on the “4/5ths” completed Washington State Convention Center expansion project “a safe investment.” Continue reading →

COVID-19 has wiped out Seattle’s hotel tax revenue putting $1.8B convention center expansion ‘at risk’

Posted on by

Lying across I-5 from Capitol Hill, the massive hole filing quickly with steel girders where the state’s downtown convention center expansion is rising might also need to suck up new financing and federal assistance.

Saying the project is now “at risk,” officials are scheduled to hold a Friday morning press conference about the COVID-19 crisis snuffing out key funding for the massive project and new efforts “fighting for critical federal support to find new financing to keep the $1.8 billion WSCC Addition project under construction.”

“The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in plummeting lodging tax revenues, which support the bond funding that pays for the project,” an announcement of the Friday conference reads. “A long-planned second round of bond financing is required but is lacking sufficient tax revenue to support it.” Continue reading →