Buildings are coming off Seattle’s URM list

Seattle currently has around 1,100 unreinforced masonry buildings (URMs), and in an area at risk of earthquakes, that’s a problem.

The city for some time has been working toward a mandatory retrofit ordinance that will require owners of buildings on its URM list to retrofit their properties to an established earthquake safety standard.

A mandatory ordinance is likely still a few years away, but last fall the city adopted a new building code to recognize URM retrofits based on a URM Retrofit Technical Standard workshopped with local structural engineering firms and developers for many years. The code was adopted to support voluntary earthquake retrofits for URM building owners who want to get off the list before the mandatory ordinance comes into effect.

Several property owners have already taken that opportunity.

First to Meet the Standard

The first building to demonstrate compliance with the new seismic regulation and achieve retrofitted URM status in the city’s URM database was the historic Poll Building at 110 Union St., near Pike Place Market.

The building was developed circa 1903, with additions in 1910. It currently has five stories and houses boutique office space atop ground-level retail. The Poll Building was previously retrofitted in the 1990s.

Coughlin Porter Lundeen (CPL) designed the latest retrofit for the building’s owner Martin Smith Inc., which specializes in historic downtown properties.

The engineering team conducted tests to confirm compliant strengths of previously completed retrofits and used the city’s construction pre-submittal conference path to ensure additional seismic upgrades would meet the new standards needed to be recognized as successfully retrofitted.

Most of the work ended up being focused on levels two and above, on both the interior and exterior. Earthquake upgrades to the character building included new parapet bracing (parapets are often the first elements to be damaged in an earthquake), new bracing and roof strengthening.

“The major goal of the retrofit was to ensure that the building’s original walls were well anchored to its floor,” Sean Umeda, structural project engineer at CPL, told the DJC.

Once the retrofit was completed, Martin Smith Inc. followed the procedure to apply for retrofitted URM status, which involved the completion of an application form and the submittal of a seismic evaluation report, photographs of completed work, and the project’s approved plan set to the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) for review.

The city reviewed the documentation and confirmed that the earthquake retrofit work complied with the new standards in early 2025.

“For me, it was a real full circle moment to see the Poll Building become the first URM to achieve retrofitted status,” Umeda said, noting his prior involvement with the city during the planning stages for the URM retrofit draft technical standard.

Martin Smith Inc. was also involved in technical and policy advisory committees, established by SDCI in 2010, related to a future URM retrofit ordinance.

“We began planning for this voluntary retrofit while the URM code change was being fleshed out — so that was a little challenging,” Umeda continued. “But we had a draft list in beta form on the changes, and the city ultimately agreed with our proposed approached.”

Strengthening Neighborhood Gems

Several other URMs have achieved retrofitted status in recent months. These include 7200 Woodlawn Ave. (aka Hubbard’s Corner) in Green Lake, which is the new home for the Atlantic Crossing pub; 5201 Ballard Ave N.W. in Ballard; and the University Cooperative School, at 5601 University Way N.E., in the North University District.

Swenson Say Faget (SSF) was the structural engineer for all of those retrofit projects.

The University Cooperative school is the first school building to achieve retrofitted URM status (the standard for educational properties is higher than for some others).

The private school serves children in pre-K through fifth grade in a historic 1925 building that was originally a car manufacturer’s showroom and repair shop. The building has been seismically retrofitted over the course of several years. The retrofits have coincided with a multi-phase renovation of the property designed by CAST architecture. The first phase of work began in 2013, and the latest wrapped last year.

The former auto shop now houses a mix of multipurpose, classroom, and staff areas. CAST reorganized the layout of spaces and circulation paths throughout the building to align with the school’s curriculum, and the new structural upgrades secure a conducive environment for students to learn and thrive.

“The property has been structurally retrofitted from its roof to the foundation,” Stefan Hampden, principal at CAST architecture, told the DJC.

Structural upgrades included the removal of original heavy timber columns and their replacement with steel beams (some of the original wood was salvaged and reused in new architectural elements including a feature stairwell) and new roof bracing including the addition of a plywood diaphragm attached to the new steel brace framing.

“The school wanted to get ahead of the expected mandatory ordinance,” Hampden explained, and hired SSF in 2018 to develop a full seismic retrofit plan for the property.

“The city’s recommendations for successfully retrofitting a URM didn’t start to solidify until 2021,” Hampden continued. “Making sure that the updates to the school would be in compliance was a bit of a moving target, so getting the retrofit completed over several years ended up working in our favor.”

When the mandatory URM ordinance does come into effect, URMs will be categorized by vulnerability (critical, high, medium) and are expected to be assigned compliance timelines of either seven, 10 or 13 years based on that status from the adoption of the mandatory ordinance.

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