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Columbia Center

The Columbia Center or Columbia Tower, formerly named the Bank of America Tower and Columbia Seafirst Center, is a skyscraper in downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. The 76-story structure is the tallest building in the state of Washington, reaching a height of 933 ft. At the time of its completion in 1985, the Columbia Center was the tallest structure on the West Coast; as of 2017, it is the fourth-tallest, behind buildings in Los Angeles and San Francisco.[6]

The Columbia Center, developed by Martin Selig and designed by Chester L. Lindsey Architects, began construction in 1982 and was completed in 1985. The building is primarily leased for class-A office spaces by various companies, with the lower floors including retail space and the upper floors featuring a public observatory and private club lounge.[1] The tower has the highest public viewing area west of the Mississippi River. It occupies most of the block bounded by Fourth and Fifth Avenues and Cherry and Columbia Streets.[7]

Design

Columbia Center was designed by Washington architect Chester L. Lindsey.[8] The base of the building is clad in Rosa Purino Carnelian granite. The building's structure is composed of three geometric concave facades with two setbacks, causing the building to appear like three towers standing side by side.[9] The floor plates in the building range from 13,603 sqft on the upper floors to 23,362 sqft on the lower floors.[10]

Ground level elevation on the Fifth Avenue side of the building is higher than on the Fourth Avenue side; the part of Cherry Street it faces was identified as one of the steepest streets in the Central Business District with a slope of 17.1%.[11] The tower was originally designed to be about 306.5 m, but federal regulations by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would not allow it to be that tall so close to the nearby Sea-Tac Airport. Although city land use regulations at the time were intended to limit skyscrapers to about 50 stories, the developer, Martin Selig, obtained the necessary permits for a 76-story skyscraper due to a part of the law that allowed bonus height for providing retail space with street access. Because three separate stories could access the street on the sloped site, the developers were allowed a bonus for each of the three stories they set aside for retail, which was reportedly an unintended loophole in the law.[12]

The Columbia Center has a sky lobby on the 40th floor that is connected by express elevators to the 5th Avenue lobby; it formerly had a public Starbucks.[13] An observation deck on the 73rd floor, named the Sky View Observatory, offers views of Seattle and environs. It is connected by a direct elevator from the 4th Avenue lobby.[14] An underground concourse connects the building's second floor to the nearby Seattle Municipal Tower and 800 Fifth Avenue.[15] The top two floors of the building (75th and 76th) are occupied by the private Columbia Tower Club, which houses a restaurant, bar, library, and meeting rooms. It opened in 1985 and is scheduled to close in April 2026.[16]

The tower, originally proposed as Columbia Center, opened under the name Columbia Seafirst Center after its largest tenant and financier, Seafirst Bank, and then changed to the Bank of America Tower, when Seafirst, which had been owned by Bank of America since 1983, was fully integrated into Bank of America. That name gave it the nickname "BOAT" (Bank of America Tower). In November 2005, the building's name was changed back to Columbia Center after the bank reduced its presence in the building. Bank of America still maintains office space within the building, but has since closed the bank branch at the base of the tower.[17]

History

Development and construction

Martin Selig, a local real estate developer who had recently opened the Fourth and Blanchard Building, announced plans for a 75-story office building at 4th Avenue and Columbia Street in October 1980. The $120 million project, named the "Columbia Center", would be funded by the Seafirst Mortgage Company and constructed by Howard S. Wright.[18][19] Selig borrowed $205 million in 1981 to develop the property.[20] The Columbia Seafirst Center, as it came to be known, was constructed by Howard S. Wright starting in 1982 with a 120 ft deep excavation hole that required 225000 cuyd of dirt and soil to be removed. This was one of the largest foundations for a building in Seattle along with concrete footings extending 134 ft below street level. While the structural steel of the building was built at a rate of 2 floors per week, the building itself was completed on January 12, 1985,[9] and opened on March 2 of that same year.[8] U.S. Steel Corporation was contracted to provide 16,000 ST of steel for construction.[21] It was approximately 50% taller than the previous tallest skyscraper in Seattle, the 630 ft Seattle First National Bank Building (now Safeco Plaza) that opened in 1969.

Financial issues and height controversy

Selig continued to own and manage the building until 1989 when financial problems forced him to sell it to Seafirst Corporation for $354 million.[22] Management was taken over by the Tishman West Company of Los Angeles.[23]

Controversy regarding the skyscraper's size contributed to the passage of a 1989 law called the Citizen's Alternative Plan (CAP) that enforced more stringent restrictions on the size of buildings in Downtown Seattle.[24] In 1990, after rejecting earlier plans for 300 ft antennas,[25] Seattle and the FAA granted permission to erect two 192 ft antennas on top of Columbia Center, which were expected to be used for broadcasting radio and television throughout the region.[26] Though the FAA was originally worried about the tower's height encroaching the airspace, they deemed the addition of the antennas not problematic.[26] The antennas were not built before the permits expired in 1994, however.[27]

Ownership changes

EQ Office bought Columbia Center from Seafirst in 1998 for $404 million.[28] The New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a 49.9% stake in the building and then several years later sold its share back to EQ Office.[29][30] In 2007, Columbia Center was sold by EQ Office to Boston-based Beacon Capital Partners for $621 million;[31] Beacon later defaulted on a loan in 2010, the height of the Great Recession, at a time when vacancies reached 40%.[32] On August 7, 2015, Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners purchased the building for $711 million.[33][34]

Renovations

On July 1, 2013, the Columbia Center's observation deck, known as the Sky View, was remodeled from 270 degrees to a 360-degree viewing area.[35] The observation deck underwent further renovations in 2018, adding two express elevators and a new lounge. The 4th Avenue lobby was also renovated to add a wide wooden staircase with seating areas.[14]

September 11 attacks

On June 16, 2004, the 9/11 Commission reported that the original plan for the September 11 attacks called for the hijacking of 10 planes, to be crashed into targets including the "tallest buildings in California and Washington state," which would have been the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles and the Columbia Center, respectively.[36]

Events

Columbia Center plays host to the largest on-air firefighter competition in the world, the LLS Firefighter Stairclimb. About 2,000 firefighters from around the world yearly make the trek up 69 floors and 1,311 steps in full structural turnout gear while on air. This event benefits the Washington/Alaska chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.[37]

Big Climb is the sister event to the LLS Firefighter Stairclimb. About 6,000 participants race and climb to the top of Columbia Center, raising more than $3 million for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This event is open to the public and anyone 8 years of age or older can participate.

Gallery

See also

  • List of tallest buildings in Seattle
  • List of tallest buildings in the United States
  • List of tallest buildings by U.S. state

External links

References

  1. Emporis building ID 119427 Emporis^
  2. {{Glass Steel and Stone|570}}^
  3. {{SkyscraperPage|52}}^
  4. {{Structurae|20008027}}^
  5. Columbia Center The Skyscraper Center, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat^
  6. Los Angeles Buildings Emporis, retrieved 2017-01-15^
  7. Sky View Observatory retrieved July 29, 2014^
  8. Susan Phinney. Chester Lindsey dead at 76: Architect changed the look of Seattle's skyline Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 18, 2003^
  9. Bank of America Tower (formerly Columbia Seafirst Tower) Howard S. Wright, retrieved June 13, 2012^
  10. Columbia Center CBRE Group, retrieved April 6, 2026^
  11. Steep Streets in Seattle Seattle Department of Transportation, retrieved June 11, 2012^
  12. Terry Finn. Building towers over Seattle Anchorage Daily News, May 3, 1984^
  13. Gabriel Campanario. A $3 drink with a million-dollar view: Coffee at the Starbucks on the 40th floor of the Columbia Center The Seattle Times, November 1, 2019, retrieved April 6, 2026^
  14. Nicole Brodeur. Visit Sky View Observatory on top of Seattle's tallest tower The Seattle Times, June 16, 2018, retrieved June 16, 2018^
  15. Christine Clarridge. Save time, stay dry on foot in Seattle's 'hidden' passageways and tunnels The Seattle Times, May 30, 2018, retrieved April 6, 2026^
  16. Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton. Downtown Seattle's Columbia Tower Club will shutter after 4 decades The Seattle Times, April 6, 2026, retrieved April 6, 2026^
  17. Tom Boyer. Region's loftiest building renamed Seattle Times, November 22, 2005^
  18. Polly Lane. 75-story office tower planned for downtown The Seattle Times, October 28, 1980^
  19. Selig gets permit for Columbia Center The Seattle Times, December 10, 1981^
  20. Timothy Egan. Creating An Office Empire The New York Times, June 29, 1986^
  21. U.S. Steel Move Draws Fire The New York Times, February 26, 1983^
  22. Bill Dietrich. Selig Undaunted After Selling His Seattle Skyscraper Los Angeles Times, November 20, 1989^
  23. Tishman West To Manage Columbia Seafirst Center Seattle Times, February 2, 1990^
  24. Harriet King. Project Tailored To Space Limits The New York Times, November 26, 1989^
  25. Height plan reduced on Seattle towers August 7, 1984^
  26. Robert T. Nelson. Tallest Building To Reach Higher -- City Issues Permit For Seafirst Antennas Seattle Times, January 5, 1990^
  27. Taller antennas sought for Columbia Center Puget Sound Business Journal, August 6, 1999^
  28. Andrea James. Interested in share of 76-story tower? Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 13, 2006^
  29. Amy Martinez. Pension fund puts stake in Columbia Center up for sale Seattle Times, October 13, 2006^
  30. Grand Re-Opening at one of Seattle's Biggest Landmark's – Columbia Tower Club! Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 7, 2012^
  31. Seattle's Columbia Center cost $621 million Seattle Times, April 25, 2007^
  32. Eric Pryne. Columbia Center misses mortgage payment Seattle Times, March 24, 2010^
  33. Marc Stiles. Columbia Center sells to Hong Kong company for $711 million Puget Sound Business Journal, August 7, 2015, retrieved August 8, 2015^
  34. Sanjay Bhatt. Columbia Center sold to Hong Kong investors The Seattle Times, August 7, 2015, retrieved August 8, 2015^
  35. Columbia Center renovates observatory, views will span 360 degrees^
  36. Outline of the 9-11 Plot, Staff Statement No. 16 National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, June 16, 2004, retrieved June 10, 2012^
  37. Firefighters climb Columbia Tower, raise funds for cancer research Komo News, retrieved 25 July 2018^