King Street Station Renovation

King Street Station is one of the largest railway stations in the state of Washington. The station’s renovation began in 2008 when the City of Seattle purchased the station and carried out improvements focused on public safety and prolonging the life of the building by strengthening the building walls and the clock tower. The project also aimed to improve the customer experience at the station and to restore the historical features of the station, while creating a modernized train station.

The construction was divided into many phases. The initial phase of construction began in summer 2008 and was completed in July 2009. In this phase of construction, the roof of the station was fully restored by using new terra cotta tiles, the broken tiles on the pyramid above the clock were replaced with salvaged glass, and four clocks were repaired.The next phase of construction was completed in August 2011. In this phase about 36 geothermic wells reaching to more than 300ft were drilled at the station for installing heating and cooling systems, while electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems were upgraded, and a non-functioning escalator was removed to restore the station façade.

The last phase of construction at the station began in March 2012. Its cost was estimated at $24m. It included seismic upgrades, interior and exterior architectural details and completion of mechanical and electrical systems.

WT staff provided a full suite of cost estimating services.