The Builders Counsel: A Construction Law Blog from Washington Construction Lawyer & LEED AP Douglas S. Reiser

Next month, the McGuire comes down

Over the past year, I have talked extensively on the McGuire Apartments debacle. The condemned 25-story high rise in Seattle’s high-rent Belltown neighborhood has become one of the most interesting, and sad, stories in construction defect. Today, we continue the progression towards an unprecedented teardown.

The City of Seattle voted, one week ago, to approve a demolition plan submitted by Lease Crutcher Lewis. The Seattle contractor will have to wait another 7 days for a 14 day appeal period to elapse. On March 24, 2011, they are expected to receive their permit; demolition would begin on April 4, 2011.

Its finally the end for the McGuire. Over the past year, I have discussed the legal saga that forced the closure of the 9 year old Seattle apartment structure. In short, the general contractor failed to properly seal and secure the building’s post-tension cables, leaving it susceptible to collapse in an earthquake. The saga has ended – the building is coming down.

The demolition plan includes extensive building material recycling, led by a Lease Crutcher Lewis LEED AP.  Builders can read more about the materials that are available and how you can go about acquiring them by reading this application document that Lewis put together (and that I compiled into a document) or by emailing LCL contact, Katie Henry.

Perhaps most interesting is the demolition plan. With thousands of residents in a close proximity to the McGuire, many have been waiting to see just what procedures would be used to ensure safety and caution.

According to the Seattle PI, LCL has an extensive safety plan in place:

 

To minimize the impact of demolition on building neighbors, the contractor would erect a wood fence around the site, with a two-level wall of large, interlocking concrete blocks inside the wood wall on the east side. Each floor where demolition equipment would be operating have a wall of plywood (or equivalent material) attached to the scaffolding surrounding the building. A mesh screen attached to the outside of the scaffolding would contain debris and dust.

Other city conditions to limit the impact include:

• Limiting work 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays with “impact and percussive activities” limited to 8 a.m to 5 p.m weekdays;
• Using hydraulic cutting and crumbling to break up materials (limiting use of impact tools) and doing all such “rubblization” work on a bed of rubble, sand or gravel;
• Minimizing dust with water spraying, covering, street cleaning and reduction or stoppage of work during high winds;
• Installing and maintaining air filters on the air intake ducts of the Trianon Building and any other buildings reasonably affected by dust leaving the site;
• Avoiding sidewalk closures along Second Avenue, except when necessary for public safety.

 

When demolition begins in April, I suspect that there will be discussion on this project. Follow Builders Counsel for more.