High-rise apartment to be vacated, torn down due to defects

SEATTLE — Residential and retail occupants of a 9-year-old high-rise in Seattle are being told they need to vacate after engineers found extensive structural defects in the building.

KOMO News reports that the 25-story McGuire Apartment building in downtown Seattle will be demolished because the cost of repairing the defects is too expensive for the owner.

The building’s occupants were told Saturday that they need to vacate by the end of the year, but that they should leave as soon as possible.

According to a statement by the building’s owner — Carpenter’s Tower LLC — the principal problem with the building is corrosion of post-tensioned cables, concrete material and reinforcement placement deficiencies.

The company says that the cables are corroding because the end of the cables were not protected with corrosion preventative paint. Water managed to leak into the structure and the cables began to erode.

“While there are no imminent tenant safety issues, the experts involved in the investigation and repair of the building have indicated that there will be structural issues that could present safety issues by 2011 and beyond,” said Brian Urback, with Kennedy Associates, the real estate adviser for Carpenter’s Tower.

The city of Seattle is expected to deem the building unsafe later this year, the company says.

Residents say the company is offering incentives, including three-month’s rent money back and moving expenses, for tenants to move out as soon as possible.

But resident Matthew Eckstein says he feels betrayed. He moved into the building just three weeks ago.

“I felt pretty betrayed, actually, because I just moved in and I would’ve liked some warning,” Eckstein said.

A retailer said he poured his savings into his salon, located at the ground level of the high-rise.

“There was no warning,” said Quint Eby. “I was really saddened by this because I’ve worked so hard for this to be a success.”

Eby said he was told he had 60 days or less to move out.

“How could something like this happen to such a big structure in downtown Seattle?” said Steve Wiley, another building resident.