Safeco Plaza (formerly known as 1001 Fourth Avenue Plaza, the Seafirst Building, and the Seattle-First National Bank Building) is a 50-story

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, United States. Designed by the Naramore, Bain, Brady, and Johanson (NBBJ) firm, it was completed in 1969 by the Howard S. Wright Construction Company for Seattle First National Bank (later known as Seafirst Bank), which relocated from its previous headquarters at the nearby Dexter Horton Building. Standing at a height of , Safeco Plaza was, upon completion, the tallest building (and structure) in Seattle, and the second-tallest building west of Mississippi River, behind

555 California Street 555 California Street, formerly Bank of America Center, is a 52- story skyscraper in San Francisco, California. It is the fourth tallest building in the city as of February 2021, and in 2013 was the largest by floor area. Completed in 1969, ...

in San Francisco. It dwarfed

Smith Tower Smith Tower is a skyscraper in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. Completed in 1914, the 38- story, tower was among the tallest skyscrapers outside New York City at the time of its completion. It was the t ...

, which had been the tallest building since 1914, and edged out the

Space Needle The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle, Washington, United States. Considered to be an icon of the city, it has been designated a List of Seattle landmarks, Seattle landmark. Located in the Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, Lower Queen An ...

, the tallest structure since 1962, by ; the latter led locals to refer to the building as "The Box the Space Needle Came In". The building was surpassed by the

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 (state), Washington, United States. The 76-story structure is the tallest building in ...

in 1984; as of 2022, it is the seventh-tallest building in Seattle. The building served as the headquarters of Seafirst until the bank moved into the Columbia Center upon its opening in 1985; in 2006, it became the headquarters of

Safeco Insurance Safeco Insurance is an American insurance company based in Seattle. A subsidiary of Liberty Mutual, Safeco provides auto insurance, homeowners insurance, and liability insurance. The company name is an acronym for Selective Auto and Fire Ensuranc ...

, which relocated from its previous headquarters in the University District.

Design and amenities

The bronze-colored aluminum and glass structure was the first modern class-A office building in Seattle and is the first skyscraper in the world to feature a Vierendeel

space frame In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure (Three-dimensional space, 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometry, geometric pattern. Space frames can ...

. The structure includes a two-story lobby as well as a five-story subterranean garage. Other amenities include of ground-floor retail featuring a fitness center, a bank, some restaurants, a medical center, and a post office. The building also has a rooftop

helipad A helipad is the landing area of a heliport, in use by helicopters, powered lift, and vertical lift aircraft to land on surface. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fa ...

, one of twelve in the city. Prominent among its restaurants was the Mirabeau, which was situated on the 46th floor. The landmark restaurant closed in 1991 following a business downturn. The eastern plaza in front of the building is home to '' Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae'', an abstract

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...

that was part of a three-piece series. It was installed by previous tenant Seafirst Bank in 1971 and was planned to be removed after being sold in 1986, but was saved with a donation by the

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

(Seafirst's successor) to the

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The museum operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in ...

following public outcry.

History

Originally the headquarters of Seafirst Bank, it was sold fourteen years later to

JMB Realty JMB Realty was a real estate investment company based in Chicago. In 1993, after suffering during the early 1990s recession, the company spun off its retail properties as Urban Shopping Centers, Inc., which was acquired by Rodamco in 2000 and b ...

in 1983 for $123 million, a record for a Seattle building. The building was purchased by Seafo Inc., a company affiliated with the New York State Common Retirement Fund, in 1993. Hines and the

CalPERS The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is an agency in the California executive branch that "manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.5 million California public employees, retirees, and their families".CalPERSFa ...

retirement system purchased 1001 Fourth Avenue Plaza in May 2005 for $162 million, with plans for $30 million in renovations to attract a new major client. Safeco Insurance Company of America leased of the building on May 23, 2006, to be its headquarters after moving from its former building in the University District and consolidating its Redmond office. The company subsequently renamed it to Safeco Plaza. In 2015, Safeco announced that it would consolidate more offices into the tower, increasing its lease from 17 to 26 floors. In July 2016, German firm GLL Real Estate Partners GmbH and South Korean firm Vestas Investment Management bought Safeco Plaza for $387 million. The firms sold the building in 2021 to

Boston Properties BXP, Inc. (formerly Boston Properties, Inc.) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust which invests in premier workplaces in Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. As of December 31, 2023, the c ...

for $465 million. A major renovation of the tower's lobby and amenity spaces was announced in July 2023 and is scheduled to be completed by 2024. A longue, fitness center, and conference rooms are set to be added as part of the project; a bicycle hub on 3rd Avenue will replace a retail space occupied by Mel's Market until 2020.

Major tenants

Fox Rothschild Fox Rothschild LLP is an American law firm founded in Philadelphia in 1907 by Edwin Fox and Jerome J. Rothschild. History From 2005 to 2010, the firm expanded from 10 offices to 15 offices, then to 27 offices in 2018. On January 1, 2016, Fox Ro ...

(formerly Riddell Williams) * Helsell Fetterman * Fehr & Peers * Interior Architects * Business Service Center, Inc *

Bain & Company Bain & Company is an American management consulting company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm provides advice to public, private, and nonprofit organizations. One of the Big Three (management consultancies), Big Three management co ...

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

* Aedas Architects

References

External links

Safeco Plaza
at

Hines Interests Limited Partnership Hines Interests Limited Partnership is an American privately held company that invests in and develops real estate. As of 2023, the company has developed, redeveloped or acquired more than 1,600 properties, comprising over 540 million square fe ...

{{Seattle Skyscrapers NBBJ buildings Hines Interests Limited Partnership Skyscraper office buildings in Seattle Office buildings completed in 1969 1969 establishments in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Downtown Seattle

Design and amenities

History

Major tenants

See also

References

External links