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PacMed - Amazon Mitigation

In September 1998, the Beacon Alliance of Neighbors entered into a mitigation process with Wright Runstad & Company over the conversion of the historic U.S. Public Health Service Hospital ("PacMed") at the northernmost tip of Beacon Hill for the headquarters of the online retailer Amazon.com.

The conversion was done by Sellen Construction, involving 260,000 sq. feet at a cost of $24,310,000. The project lasted from October 1998 to June 1999.

People who lived around the facility expressed concerns about the parking situation that would be caused by the influx of hundreds of Amazon employees, as well as a desire to have the redevelopment of the site and its new purpose complement the vision the community had for itself, and contribute to finding solutions for public safety issues in the area.

The parties pursued an open process over the following nine months. All community-generated mitigation points were recorded and then presented during a mitigation charette held in June 1999.

The results of the negotiations provided the following community benefits:

• Implementation of a Residential Parking Zone, including hiring Japanese translators to explain the RPZ to elderly Japanese-only speaking residents

• Two-year paid parking permits for residents living in the RPZ

• Building a parking facility on site to reduce congestion on nearby streets

• Creating a shuttle for Amazon employees to Union Station to encourage mass transit

• Perimeter patrols of the PacMed grounds outside the site fence

• Electronic monitoring of open spaces on the north side of the main building

• Monitor and report public safety issues

• Milling and donation of lumber from substantial trees to school programs; when a topped redwood tree was felled to make way for the parking facility, several thousand board feet of redwood were donated to the Cleveland High School shop program and the Seattle Central CC wooden boat building program

• Landscaping with suitable native vegetation that provides habitat for migratory birds

• Quarters 1 as a monthly community council meeting place

• Continued display of the winter star during the holiday season

• Participation in community public safety meetings

• Creation of a public park on the east side of 12th Ave. S. should the northern part of the PacMed property be developed for commercial use

In addition, Wright Runstad made donations of rental equipment and refreshments for the 2005 Jungle/Dr. José Rizal Park/ Mountain to Sound Greenway Trail Open House and June 1999 PacMed Mitigation Summit, and participated in a Habitat for Humanity project on Beacon Hill.

The project won the Urban Land Institute's 2000 "Award for Excellence" in the rehabilitation category, and the Building Owner's and Managers Association's 2004/2005 "The Office Building of the Year" (TOBY) award in the Historical Building category for the Pacific Northwest Region.

Wright Runstad continues to be an engaged, supportive, responsible neighbor in the community, helping the neighborhood succeed. Although Amazon.com will vacate the historic site in 2010, Wright Runstad plans to rent the facility to a single tenant.

Master Use Permit for the PacMed/Amazon Conversion, Analysis and Decision of the Director of the Department of Design Construction and Land Use, WRCo Project Application, Sept. 9, 2000 (pdf)

PacMed as seen from the Smith Tower, December 2006

PacMed's classy good looks - seen here from the top floor of nearby Beacon Tower - help define the Seattle skyline and a neighborhood

The Nisqually Earthquake

On February 28, 2002, the Nisqually Quake struck Seattle. The PacMed tower failed, along with other structural elements.

The PacMed tower rises to 14 stories, 15 counting the roof, and stands on four columns: 22-, 16-, 12-, and 8-inches to the top. All suffered extensive damage, as did lower floors. On the 11th floor, eleven cracks ranged as deep as a foot in just one of the four 22-inch corner beams.

On the 1st floor, in the west wing that houses offices for the medical clinic of the east wing, a 50-foot crack ran midway through a load- bearing concrete wall.

Epoxy, stronger than concrete, set the tower straight, and steel, and skill. Pillars were wrapped in eight layers of blue carbon fiber, also used to shore the Alaskan Way viaduct. The tower is better, stronger than new. More epoxy was used in repairs than concrete.

PacMed's original construction used hollow, red clay bricks extensively throughout its interior, including bricks 1-ft square and 4-inches deep for flooring and secondary support. The sides of these bricks were about 1/2-inch thick. Some employees confessed a drumming rumbled through those hollow spaces during the quake. In the tower, gaps appeared in floors.

Of six elevators, only two worked after the quake. A 400-pound section of red clay bricks crashed through the roof of one elevator car.

Outside, many windows of the building are topped with 400-pound terra cotta crowns that were held in place by grout. All had to be reset securely to the building with steel straps and bolts.

Approximately every 8 ft, the original builders connected one "dogbone" -  like a 4-inch oblong bent coat hanger - from the exterior wall to the mortar of the interior. On one corner of the tower, dogbones were not connected at all, so in the quake the section crumbled. Tons of rubble fell on the 10th floor roof. About 80% of the tower was damaged.

The north extension - built in 1994 to stabilize the building during a quake - worked, but to the west, a crack ran some 30 ft up the corner where the addition shifted under the load. Atop both wings, solariums were rebuilt.

Sellen Construction was tasked with the repairs, employing a high-rise crane near the south entrance to make the building better than new. Sellen built an enclosed chute through the center of the building to remove waste, with interior sprinklers to keep the dust down, accomplishing the majority of cleanup and demolition with little disturbance to the neighborhood. Three crews worked in shifts around the clock.

The project lasted March 2001 to June 2002.

High quality work, modern materials, and professional dedication have made this architectural gem safe for Seattle's future.