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Gallery: Facelift of Seattle’s Space Needle nears completion

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Gallery: Facelift of Seattle’s Space Needle nears completion
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Gallery: Facelift of Seattle’s Space Needle nears completion
In this March 20 photo, a one-ton glass panel is moved into position on the Space Needle’s observation deck in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)
In this March 20 photo, a glazer works on glass panels on the exterior wall of the Space Needle observation deck where larger glass panels behind him begin to line the exterior viewing platform and views north in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)
Workers stand atop scaffolding at the restaurant level of the Space Needle in Seattle on April 18. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
In this Feb. 7 photo, workers climb atop the roof of the Space Needle, where most of the top is surrounded by a massive work platform, scaffolding and protective covering, as work on a major remodel of the iconic observation tower continued in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)
Construction work continues April 18 on a stairwell connecting the viewing level with an area below where glass panels will allow views below in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
A glazer leans on one-ton glass panels as the one on the left is moved into position on the observation deck March 20 in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)
A gantry crane on the Space Needle’s observation deck lifts a one-ton glass panel through a narrow opening of scaffolding enclosing the upper structure on March 20 in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)
Jake Willis climbs out on scaffolding as he builds it on the halo of the Space Needle in view of the Puget Sound and Queen Anne hill behind as work on a major remodel of the iconic observation tower continued on Feb. 7 in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)
Sparks fly as a worker cuts through a steel beam for an addition of a spiral staircase in the Space Needle as work on a major remodel of the iconic observation tower continued on Feb. 7 in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)
Josh Jagger climbs out on scaffolding as he builds it on the halo of the Space Needle in view of the Puget Sound and Queen Anne hill behind as work on a major remodel of the iconic observation tower continues Feb. 7 in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)

By Ahmed Namatalla / Associated Press

SEATTLE — Tourism is booming in Seattle. Just take a look at the Space Needle.

The family-owned landmark is set to unveil the biggest renovation in its 56-year history next month, a $100 million investment in a single year of construction that transformed the structure’s top viewing level with floor-to-ceiling glass.

Seattle and King County benefited from $7.4 billion of spending by a record 40 million visitors last year, a number that has grown every year since the 2008 recession, according to Visit Seattle, a nonprofit advocacy group for the tourism industry.

Dozens of cranes that have become a mainstay of the city’s skyline over the past decade aren’t just building apartments and offices, but hotels to absorb the flood of arrivals at Seattle Tacoma International Airport.

“The environment is friendly with this type of investment. It wasn’t a difficult thing at all to obtain financing,” said Ron Sevart, president and chief executive officer at Space Needle LLC. “What we like to say is trends last 50 years. What this investment is more about is the next 50 years, and making sure the space needle stays relevant.”

Hyatt Hotels Corp. is building a 1,260 room tower that’s set to become the biggest hotel in the Northwest when it opens in the fall. In 2017, SeaTac Airport bucked the second year of declines in international arrivals to the U.S., posting a 5 percent increase, according to Visit Seattle.

Seattle’s Wright family, which built and owns the Space Needle, is also installing glass in the observation deck’s rotating floor and remodeling the restaurant in the first phase of the renovation.

Repainting the exterior of the 600-foot (183-meter) structure and replacing its three elevators will follow, according to Karen Olson, chief marketing officer at Space Needle. The project is being finance with a commercial loan, she said.

“Keeping your product well maintained and ‘fresh’ increases desirability,” said Jeanne Liu, senior vice president of research at Longwoods International USA Inc., a consultancy that compiles tourism industry statistics for Visit Seattle. “There are a lot of places to visit in this world, and those destinations with a solid tourism infrastructure that is well maintained can use that as a competitive advantage.”

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