(rshsdepot) King Street Station (Seattle, WA)

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From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
 
Original story and photos at:
_http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/353875_kingstreet06.html_ 
(http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/353875_kingstreet06.html) 
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
King Street Station restoration project getting back on track
$26.5  million face-lift resumes this summer

By LARRY LANGE
P-I REPORTER
 
Restoration of Seattle's historic King Street Station will resume this year  
after a hiatus of nearly two years as the city pushes to burnish the old  
building's status as a transportation center.
 
"We want the station's best days to be ahead," Mayor Greg Nickels said  
Wednesday at a ceremony marking the city's takeover of the building. 
 
About $4 million has been spent so far to replace part of the ornate  plaster 
facing on the ground floor and refurbish restrooms. That work was  financed 
by Amtrak, which uses the station, and the state, but that stopped  after state 
officials balked at assuming liability for the building. There was  also a 
question of whether extra government cash could be spent restoring the  building 
while the private Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. owned  it.
 
Seattle agreed to assume liability and gave the railroad a $10 check  
Wednesday in exchange for the deed to the building. 
 
"It's a donation," railroad spokesman Gus Melonas said of the  exchange.
 
The total budget for remaining work is $26.5 million, including $10 million  
from the city's 2006 Bridging the Gap transportation tax levy dedicated mostly 
 for arterial street, pedestrian and safety improvements. Project manager 
Trevina  Wang said it won't be clear whether the budget will cover the initial 
phases of  the restoration until design work is complete.
 
In the first phase this summer, communications dishes and towers will be  
removed from the building, and it will get a new roof using the same brand of  
green-colored tiles installed when it opened in 1906 but long since  removed.
 
In the second phase, starting next year, the grand staircase linking South  
Jackson Street to the waiting room will be reopened to its original width and  
the addition above the staircase will be removed. The original building will 
be  retrofitted with earthquake-resistant reinforcing, the exterior cleaned and 
the  clock repaired.
 
Another part of the second phase is to remove the false ceiling above the  
waiting room and restore the original vintage floral-patterned plaster ceiling  
concealed for four decades. The second-phase work is expected to be completed 
in  2011, Wang said.
 
There's still a question of what to do with the second and third floors of  
the building, which once housed railroad offices but haven't been used since 
the  mid-1980s. City officials said no money is available to restore the 
estimated  30,000 square feet of space on those levels. Options include new spaces 
for city  staffers or for rental or possible retail-outlet space, Wang said. 
 
New housing development is expected across the street in the former north  
stadium parking lot, adding a major traffic source. "We will be doing a lot of  
planning to make sure we can accommodate everybody," Wang said.
 
The station is a major stopping point for Amtrak passenger trains, Sound  
Transit's Sounder commuter trains and Amtrak intercity buses. Sound Transit's  
light rail trains and King County Metro transit buses stop across the street at  
the now-restored Union Station where Sound Transit is headquartered.
 
City transportation spokesman Rick Sheridan said the city considered it  
important to save the building as an "architectural gem" and a place where more  
people can take transit rather than drive.
 
P-I reporter Larry Lange can be reached at 206-448-8313 or 
_larrylange_@_seattlepi.com_ (mailto:larrylange@seattlepi.com) .



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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1689
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org