By Coral Garnick – Staff Writer, Puget Sound Business Journal
Apr 12, 2018, 12:48pm
Columbia Center will soon have direct elevators to the Sky View Observatory, which will also be home to a new bar 73 floors up in Seattle’s tallest skyscraper.
That’s according to people familiar with the project and documents submitted to the city of Seattle’s Department of Construction and Inspection.
The 76-story Columbia Center is in the middle of remodeling its three-floor atrium at the base of the tower. Among the most striking components of the facelift will be the upgraded main entry on Fourth Avenue.
The dark canopy is being replaced with a three-story glass curtain wall, which will lead inside to what building manager Urban Renaissance Group has called a “grand feature staircase” between the first and second floors.
But tucked away in other plans filed with the city, and confirmed by people familiar with the matter, is a remodel of the old Sky View Cafe in the observation level and elevators that will take tourists and visitors up to the observatory without having to first get off at the 40th floor and switch elevators.
It is unclear on what floor the elevator will start and if it will take Columbia Tower Club members up more quickly, as well.
Jennifer Tucker, general manager of Sky View Observatory, declined to comment on the project.
Planning documents submitted to the city show the current freight elevators will be converted to passenger elevators, a plan that was confirmed by a source who asked not to be named.
Documents show two elevators in the building each getting $585,889 worth of upgrades including guides, cable, hoist ropes, counterweights, entrances and relocation of pit equipment. A separate permit document shows those same elevators getting new interiors, ceilings and carpet tile flooring. No price is shown for that portion of the project yet.
A city employee said the project should be completed in the early summer.
The small cafe that was previously on the Sky View level will be replaced by a bar, which plans show will also have some food and serve coffee. Details show a rapid-cook oven, bread rack and coffee brewer along with the “liquor steps” and “liquor display.” The plans say the remodel will cost $150,000.
The project partners for the cafe include the Legends hospitality company out of New York City, which developed the One World Observatory at the top of the city’s tallest building.
A Legends job posting for a bartender posted April 12 says Sky View is a new addition to the company’s “fastest growing business vertical.” It says the space will open in June and “will set a new standard in the observatory experience in Seattle.”
A sign for the Sky View Observatory is being installed at the new Fourth Avenue entrance. Visitors will most likely still need to walk through the new atrium to get on the elevator because, according to retail marketing materials for the building, visitors to the Sky View Observatory will contribute “to a significant increase in daily traffic through the atrium.”
Plans show that when visitors arrive to the 73rd floor observatory, they will no longer approach a ticket desk and a glass wall. The desk and glass walls are being removed, which indicates tickets may be purchased before getting in the elevator.
A permit that could be connected has been submitted to “install conduit stubs and floor boxes for future kiosk and turnstile,” but no other explanations or materials could be found indicating where those turnstiles will be located.
