Pier 48 outlined in yellow
Today is the last day for public comment on the demolition of the warehouse on Pier 48, an old wooden structure with 120,410 square feet, built in the 1950s. WSDOT has no use for the warehouse, which is deteriorating and becoming a “public nuisance,” they say, due to its failing fire and security equipment.
The Port of Seattle sold the pier to WSDOT in summer of 2008 for $11 million, in anticipation of WSDOT using the pier, which came with an “upland” pay parking lot, for construction staging during the Viaduct replacement process.
(Some of you may be wondering what happened the Foxtrot class Russian submarine–it’s found a new berth in San Diego.)
WSDOT’s Greg Phipp’s put together a call with project managers, who explained that they expect the demolition permit to be issued by the first of April, with actual demolition beginning in June. During that time, Pier 48’s upland lot will be shared by the demolition crew and the construction crew working on the south end of the Viaduct, from South Holgate to South King Street. (Pier 48 was last in the news for a sinkhole that opened up near there, but the engineers assured me that the staging area is solid ground.)
Opening bids will be accepted for the Holgate to King section as of April 14. WSDOT plans to “replace the southern mile of the viaduct with a new side-by-side roadway that includes new on- and off-ramps near the stadiums and new bicycle/pedestrian paths along SR 99.” By October, the demolition will be complete, and it’ll just be the Viaduct construction crew at Pier 48, through 2013, when that stage of the project is to finish up.
After that…no one knows what will become of the pier. The structure is unstable, and can’t tolerate heavy loads. At one point, the Washington State Ferries were interested in using the spot for overflow traffic, but that seems no longer necessary. It’s been suggested that, in conjunction with the seawall repair, the area could become a beach. WSDOT has no plans of its own, past 2013.