The King County Administration Building is a nine-story office building in Seattle, the seat of King County, Washington, United States. Completed in 1971, the building is located at 500 Fourth Avenue, in between Jefferson Street and James Street, and parking is available in parking garages on all surrounding streets. Designed by the Harmon, Pray and Detrich architectural firm, it features a unique hexagonal, honeycomb theme in its walls and windows. [1] [2]
The plaza surrounding the building was the site of a five-month protest by homeless people opposed to funding cuts for a homeless non-profit organization in 2016. [3]
The building was rendered mostly vacant in 2020 as the county government adopted remote work for most of its employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. With increasing maintenance costs and significant renovation work needed, the county ultimately announced in April 2022 that it would fully vacate and shutter the building by the end of the year despite having no plans for the building's future. [4] A proposal to demolish the building as part of a civic campus redevelopment program was announced by County Executive Dow Constantine in 2023. [5]
Several agencies were located in the Administration Building, including:
47°36′11″N122°19′46″W / 47.60306°N 122.32944°W
Pioneer Square is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of Downtown Seattle, Washington, US. It was once the heart of the city: Seattle's founders settled there in 1852, following a brief six-month settlement at Alki Point on the far side of Elliott Bay. The early structures in the neighborhood were mostly wooden, and nearly all burned in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. By the end of 1890, dozens of brick and stone buildings had been erected in their stead; to this day, the architectural character of the neighborhood derives from these late 19th century buildings, mostly examples of Richardsonian Romanesque.
The Chinatown–International District is a neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It is the center of the city's Asian American community. Within the district are the three neighborhoods known as Chinatown, Japantown and Little Saigon, named for the concentration of businesses owned by people of Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese descent, respectively. The geographic area also once included Manilatown.
The King County Courthouse is the administrative building housing the judicial branch of King County, Washington's government. It is located in downtown Seattle, just north of Pioneer Square. The 1916 structure houses the King County Prosecuting Attorney, the King County Sheriff's Office (KCSO), the King County Council, the King County Law Library, King County Work and Education Release, and courtrooms for the King County Superior Court and the Seattle District Court. It is located just north of City Hall Park at 516 Third Avenue, between Dilling Way and James Street.
The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding satellites and suburbs. The United States Census Bureau defines the Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA metropolitan statistical area as the three most populous counties in the state: King, Pierce, and Snohomish. Seattle has the 15th largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States with a population of 4,018,762 as of the 2020 census, over half of Washington's total population.
Red Square, officially Central Plaza or the Suzzallo Quadrangle, is a large open square on the Seattle campus of the University of Washington that serves as a hub for two of the university's major axes, connecting the campus's northern Liberal Arts Quadrangle with the science and engineering buildings found on the lower campus. The plaza is paved with red brick, and becomes notoriously slippery during rain.
Telegraph Avenue is a street that begins, at its southernmost point, in the midst of the historic downtown district of Oakland, California, and ends, at its northernmost point, at the southern edge of the University of California, Berkeley campus in Berkeley, California. It is approximately 4.5 miles (7.2 km) in length.
City Hall Park, also known as Courthouse Park, is a 1.3-acre (0.53 ha) park in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States.
Union Square is a 2.6-acre (1.1-hectare) public plaza bordered by Geary, Powell, Post, and Stockton Streets in downtown San Francisco, California. "Union Square" also refers to the central shopping, hotel, and theater district surrounding the plaza for several blocks. The area got its name because it was once used for Thomas Starr King rallies and support for the Union Army during the American Civil War, earning its designation as a California Historical Landmark.
The Metropolitan Tract is an area of land in downtown Seattle owned by the University of Washington. Originally covering 10 acres (40,000 m2), the 1962 purchase of land for a garage for the Olympic Hotel expanded the plot to 11 acres (45,000 m2). The Metropolitan Tract is primarily located in a rectangle formed by Seneca St., Third Ave., Union St., and Sixth Ave.
Westlake Center is a four-story shopping center and 25-story office tower in downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. The southern terminus of the Seattle Center Monorail, it is located across Pine Street from Westlake Park, between 4th and 5th Avenues. It is named for Westlake Avenue, which now terminates north of the mall but once ran two blocks farther south to Pike Street. Westlake Park is considered Seattle's "town square" and celebrities and political figures often make appearances or give speeches from the building's balcony. The anchor stores are Saks Off 5th and Nordstrom Rack.
Oakland City Center is an office, shopping and hotel complex in Downtown Oakland, Oakland, California. The complex is the product of a redevelopment project begun in the late 1950s. It covers twelve city blocks between Broadway on the east, Martin Luther King Jr. Way on the west, Frank H. Ogawa Plaza on 14th Street on the north side of the complex and the Oakland Convention Center and Marriott Hotel extend south to 10th Street. An hourly parking garage is located beneath the complex's shopping mall. The mall features an upscale fitness and racquet club, in addition to numerous take-out restaurants and other stores. The complex is served by the 12th Street/Oakland City Center BART station.
The UW Tower is a high-rise office building complex located in the University District of Seattle, Washington, United States. It was completed in 1975 and serves as the head offices of the University of Washington. The 22-story tower was designed by NBBJ. It reaches a height of 99 m (325 ft), making it Seattle's tallest building outside the Downtown area.
Othello station is a light rail station located in Seattle, Washington. It is situated between the Rainier Beach and Columbia City stations on the 1 Line, which runs from Angle Lake through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Downtown Seattle and the University of Washington as part of the Link light rail system. The station consists of two at-grade side platforms between South Othello Street and South Myrtle Street in the median of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South in the NewHolly neighborhood, part of Seattle's Rainier Valley.
Mount Baker station is a light rail station located in Seattle, Washington. It is situated between the Columbia City and Beacon Hill stations on the 1 Line, which runs from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport to Downtown Seattle, the University of Washington, and Northgate as part of the Link light rail system. The elevated station consists of two side platforms located west of the intersection of Rainier Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in the Mount Baker neighborhood, part of Seattle's Rainier Valley.
International District/Chinatown station is a light rail station that is part of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel in Seattle, Washington, United States. The station is located at the tunnel's south end, at 5th Avenue South and South Jackson Street in the Chinatown-International District neighborhood, and is served by the 1 Line of Sound Transit's Link light rail system. The station is located adjacent to Sound Transit headquarters at Union Station, as well as intermodal connections to Amtrak and Sounder commuter rail at King Street Station and the First Hill Streetcar.
The Seattle Civic Center is a building complex in Seattle, Washington whose original master plan was designed by Édouard Frère Champney in 1910. The complex comprises several buildings owned by the City of Seattle and King County that cover several city blocks. The buildings include:
The Microsoft campus is the corporate headquarters of Microsoft Corporation, located in Redmond, Washington, United States, a part of the Seattle metropolitan area. Microsoft initially moved onto the grounds of the campus on February 26, 1986, shortly before going public on March 13. The headquarters has undergone multiple expansions since its establishment and is presently estimated to encompass over 8 million square feet (740,000 m2) of office space and have over 50,000 employees.
The Charles E. Odegaard Undergraduate Library(OUGL) is a library on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. It houses secondary stacks, a learning commons and on-campus technology resources for students, primarily undergraduates. Named after the 19th president of the university, it opened in 1972, replacing the small undergraduate library previously located at Suzzallo Library. It fronts the northwest corner of Red Square and provides access to the parking garage below the plaza, which was built simultaneously with the library. In addition to library space, the building includes a cafeteria and newsstand on the ground floor.
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is a municipal government agency in Seattle, Washington that is responsible for the maintenance of the city's transportation systems, including roads, bridges, and public transportation. The agency is funded primarily by taxes that are supplemented by voter-approved levies from other sources; its budget in 2017 was $450 million.
The Federal Reserve Bank Building, also known as the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Seattle Branch, served as the offices of the Seattle branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco for over 50 years, from 1951 to 2008.