They this got going Saturday morning early. They are pulling it down from the front on Pacific Avenue side and trying to save some of the steel cross beams that are the historic elements because they were the cutting edge technology when the building was built in the 1890s. They are using a 155 foot high reach. The reporter said the Wm. Dickson Co. has the job and looks to be working really carefully. We shall see. Tacoma, WA - Saturday, September 26, 2009 Last-minute hope: Attorneys searching for judge to halt demolition A desperate effort to save the Luzon from demolition continued into the night Friday. At least two Tacoma attorneys worked to find a Pierce County Superior Court judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would prevent destruction of the 119-year-old building, which was set to begin this morning. “This is not the normal course of business,” said lawyer Jack Connelly at 8:45 p.m. “Normally you’d want to go into the courthouse and set up a hearing where everyone would argue their position.” “There’s not a textbook that tells us what to do in this circumstance,” he said. Connelly said the issue surrounds whether the building is a safety hazard, since a report exists from a Seattle engineer that implies otherwise. Efforts to save the six-story building at South 13th Street and Pacific Avenue were renewed Friday morning after a local developer tried to coordinate the transfer of the building to a state historic preservation group, and then plan for the Luzon’s shoring and rehabilitation. But a team put together by Grace Pleasants, which included that report from the Seattle engineer, failed to convince city officials that they could quickly remove the risk of the Luzon’s collapse. “This is not about me and my company and what we do, this is about saving a historic building,” Pleasants said. After a 50-minute meeting Friday morning at the Municipal Building, City Manager Eric Anderson was unconvinced that a plan existed to mitigate the danger, and he confirmed that demolition would start at 7 a.m. today. “From what I’ve heard so far, I don’t see how we don’t go forward tomorrow,” Anderson told the group Friday. “My legal charge is health and safety. My personal preference is for preservation, but if someone is damaged by the building if it falls, that’s no defense for me.” Mayor Bill Baarsma said Friday afternoon that the die is cast. “I think (Anderson’s) made up his mind and he feels he’s doing the right thing and that’s what he’s paid to do,” Baarsma said. “If I were to make the call, I’d wait. I’d get some more information to see if in fact there was a way to stabilize the building. But I understand how (the city manager) system (of government) works and where he’s coming from.” But Friday night, Connelly and mayoral candidate Jim Merritt’s campaign manager, Ronnie Bush, said Baarsma was trying to coordinate City Council members to provide political pressure to stop the demolition. Attempts to reach Baarsma later Friday were unsuccessful. The other attorney working on the issue is Jim Bush, who is married to Ronnie Bush. Ronnie Bush said Baarsma called her and asked if there was anything Merritt could do to prevent the razing. Bush and Connelly said they were calling judges all evening. “We have two attorneys who are willing to meet tonight at midnight,” she said. “One of the judges who looks like he will (agree to hear the case) has a function that ends at 10 p.m. This particular judge is a real hometown person.” Ronnie Bush said Merritt, through friends, got the cell phone number of the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, though it was unclear if any conversation occurred. Bush said Merritt was upset by the news that the demolition was moving forward. “I have never seen him as upset as he was,” she said. “He couldn’t go on campaigning when he heard.” The other candidate for mayor, city councilwoman Marilyn Strickland, said Friday night that she would have several questions about any 11th-hour plan to save the Luzon. “What we can’t afford to do is compromise public safety and put the city in the position to spend funds we don’t have,” she said. At Friday morning’s meeting, Pleasants’ team was represented by Stuart Young of the architecture firm BCRA. He presented information from a Seattle-based engineer that the building was not in imminent danger of collapse and could be shored up within four to six weeks, then rehabilitated at some point. At the meeting were Young, Anderson, city building and land use chief Charlie Solverson, city engineer Jim Parvey, historic preservation consultant Michael Sullivan and city economic development official Elly Walkowiak. The city announced last week that the brick building, abandoned and open to the elements for years, must be razed to protect the public. An engineering report showed bulging walls, broken beams and collapsed floors inside the building. The Luzon has housed a bank, a Chinese restaurant and an arcade among other businesses. It was designed by famed Chicago architects Daniel Burnham and John Root, and it is one of two Burnham & Root structures remaining on the West Coast. Its internal metal structure was an early precursor to modern skyscraper construction methods. During the discussion, Anderson expressed frustration about the recent history of the building. “I wish there were representatives of two to three other people here,” he said. “One would be those who have owned it for years and didn’t do a … thing.” The Gintz Group, which owns the building, bought it two years ago with plans to save it by remodeling it into office and retail space, but tenants needed to secure financing never emerged. Then Gintz and Tacoma contractor Igor Kunitsa were unable to work out the details of a building rehabilitation plan in the last several weeks that satisfied the city. Now the city will put a lien on the property to recover the cost of the demolition, estimated to be around $600,000. Ron Gintz, chief operating officer of the Gintz Group, did not return a call for comment Friday. At Friday’s meeting, Young presented a letter from the Gintz Group, agreeing to deed the building to the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation for $10. Young also had a letter from Terry Lundeen, a principal at Seattle engineering firm Coughlin Porter Lundeen. Baarsma said part of that letter read: “In the absence of a significant environmental event, such as a moderate to large earthquake or an extreme snowfall, the exterior of the building does not appear to be an imminent collapse hazard that would endanger the general public.” Anderson said he understood there would be a second letter from an engineering firm agreeing with Lundeen’s conclusions, but Young said he did not have it, though someone from Swenson Say Fagét did agree. In an interview Friday morning with The News Tribune, Young said Swenson Say Fagét engineer Ryan Reichman thinks the building can be saved. It was Reichman who prepared an assessment for the city on July 1 that concluded that the Luzon was a “life safety hazard” in its current condition and recommended that the building be braced.
The building is on a steep hill side with a brick facade. I appears some of the bricks have fallen out of the side of the building and they have closed the street on the west side because of it. On the up hill south side of the street is a real fancy hotel. There is a parking lot on the east side that is boarded up so no one can get in. I don't have a photo of the building but it looks like it could fall down at any moment. It has survived serveral earthquakes but if there is structural damage inside it really could drop at any moment. All this motion in the courts though has me puzzled. It has not hit the main stream media much up here. That is probably a good thing. Notice the people making the stink know nothing of construction or business. Thanks for the update Wolf.
They are leaf lickers and tree huggers. No wonder they are making a problem.
pictures? did anybody get any pictures of this today?
I use to play here as a kid.These were taken from Google earth. first one is from Pacific Ave. directly kiddie corner from the building. the second one is from up 13th. corner of Broadway and 13th. I dont know if this wil work but here is a link to Google earth location. http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/postcatcher.php?PostWizardFile=20090927074802-4abf7b220f7924.99362771 PS I don't see any trees here worth licking.
Thats because the trees are on the inside of the building, no joke. I spent a lot of time on this building last Winter putting together a selective demo bid that never happened. I say "Good ridence!"
Unless someone is going to pay allot of money to restore it, and stabilize it, I don't see why it can't come to the ground anyway, might as well do it safely then possibly having it fall down on something, or someone.
The news video showed Dickson got the job and used a long reach with some sort of grapple. The building pretty much crumbled whenever the grapple grabbed something. It's gone now.
Too add to my statement, I would rather see something there helping our economy then a rickety old building anyway. Tearing it down = Jobs Building something = Jobs Complete Building = Business(es) = Jobs -- John, where is the news video you saw? I would be interested to see it.
Wm. Dickson Co. was low bidder, however R.W. Rhine Inc. demolished the building as Dickson was incapable of doing it.
Rhine I noticed the equipment all said Rhine and they quoted Joel in one place. Why was Dickson incapable of doing it? Did they do any work on the job, or just crap out altogether?
Tearing it down = Jobs In this economy, jobs are very important. It was in pretty bad shape.
Cool pictures. It looks like everything else around it was torn down already.
Knock it down then apologies later, that thing was going to come down on your terms or its own terms.
Those that wish to preserve old buildings -- need to show up with the cash needed to renovate or rebuild. No dipping into the public till.
I got to agree with sufer-joe. This is a put up or shut up situation.
It seems to me that those who want to "save" these old buildings only show up when they are slated to be torn down. If they showed up sooner, and with money in hand, the building would not have gotten to the point it needed torn down. The leaf licker crowd would like to save everything as it is, and do it all with other peoples money. I am a part of this "other people" group, and I don't think money should be wasted on saving things that are past their useful life.
Right on, Dualie. Right on, Dualie. Just get it down on the ground, then worry about what people are going to say, or not. Buy a beer for the guy who got it on the ground while everyone else was sitting around whining about the loss of the historic building. LOL.
I'm working on a "restoration" right now. originally built in 1910 as a salt water public swimming pool. WHAT A GIANT PAIN IN THE AZZ!!!!! its work right now so i cant complain but for the work and money their dumping into this old rotted POS they could have built a new modern state of the art swimming facility. Completely jaded me to anything Old or historic. makes me want to find some old buildings and buy them just to tear em down. im a sub of a sub and they "forgot" to mention till after i started the job that its a Prevailing wage job. lets just say our contract got renegotiated QUICKLY.
Where is that old swimming pool, and what is the point in saving it? Just sounds so crazy. Maybe you could "accidentally" trash it so that they could build a new one. LOL.
it out in Point Richmond. Its really reinforcing my dislike of most things antique and old. Other than historical trucks and heavy equipment. The architect is a flipping tyrant, Apparently he thinks this is going to be his Taj mahal or Lincoln memorial. Now were on hold waiting a week and a half for the special zinc primer coating to arrive.
Oh, that's what they call the "plunge," right? I know that POS has been sitting vacant for years. The whole place is like a toxic waste site too. And the new condos they built right next to the tanks at Brick Yard--that is an accident waiting to happen. what kind of work are you doing on the plunge? They should just tear it down, don't you think?
that's the one. IDK about toxic waste its a pretty affluent side of town, NOTHING like the other side of the freeway at all. its definitely the right side of the tracks. it was closed and left derelict sometime in 2001 i believe not to sure on the dates. Then some vagrants, hobos and wino's moved in and called it home until one of them managed to set the front of it on fire one night around 2005ish. The locals raised a butt load of cash and got some matching government funds, grants and other money to put the thing back together. you can read about it here http://www.richmondplunge.org/ I'm replacing 100 year old rotted, delaminated steel angles that were hot riveted to channel steel members that support the mezzanine and roof levels. Basically me and my guys hold a rivet buster (2/3rds sized jack hammer/pavement breaker) chest high for 8 hours a day bludgeoning the heads off of rivets. Pretty much torture for every sense your body has. its horrible work but it really wouldn't be half as bad if it wasn't for the ridiculous amount of paper work right now their waiting on some special zinc primer to arrive from lord knows where so they can prime the larger channels before i erect them. We are also tasked with welding some steel stiffening plates on the bases of all the supporting beam columns where rust has eaten all the way through them. All in all their dumping close to 8 million bucks into it.
Yeah, but drive through the tunnel and there is plenty of toxic waste out there on the waterfront, don't you think? That's cool that you hooked into some of the bucks being dumped into the Plunge. I know you think it should just be torn down (I agree), but you should have some satisfaction in knowing that you are receiving some of the bucks raised by all those leaf lickers and tree huggers over in Bezerkely and Point Richmond. I think you are having the last laugh, Dualie. Nice going, man.
I would say the land is clean for about a 1/2 mile radius around the plunge but once you get outside of that radius its Erin Brockovich contaminated. ITs got the rail yard to the east the refinery to the north, the fuel and chemical terminal to the west and the old kaiser shipyards and union carbide plant to the south. Its pretty much the eye of the storm. Im not complaining right now because work is work, Im not loosing money on it YET but im not making a ton either. Its not that glory work they would put in the recruiting video. Their definitely making me earn my money...