Historic Preservation and Adaptive Reuse: Securing Seattle’s Historic Pioneer Square

Principal Francesca Renouard, PE/SE, participated in ULI Northwest’s Adaptive Reuse Symposium.  Here is the post-event summary from ULI.

Any Seattle resident can tell you that Pioneer Square is rich in architectural history, with brick-and-stone streetscapes erected in the wake of the Great Fire of 1889. The heavy arches, detailed cornices, and narrow blocks contributed to the square’s status as the city’s first designated historic district and its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

Yet despite the cultural and aesthetic advantages of preserving these structures—and the urgency of retrofitting them for a safer, more sustainable future—redeveloping Pioneer Square comes with major drawbacks: the ubiquity of earthquake-vulnerable unreinforced masonry (URM), the area’s waterlogged soils, the emergence of ever-tighter building codes and preservation criteria, and the economics of investments with high upfront costs and uncertain returns.

At a dynamic symposium on September 17, 2025, ULI Northwest brought together developers, engineers, finance experts, preservationists, business owners, and city government partners to explore the challenges and adaptive reuse opportunities in Seattle’s oldest neighborhood.

Pioneer Square’s Cadillac Hotel was an apt setting for the event. The nonprofit Historic Seattle led the efforts to preserve the three-story brick structure after it sustained damage in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. Today it is the permanent home of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.

Benefiting from Highway Removal

Chris Angus, senior vice president of design and development at Unico Properties, kicked off the symposium with a keynote address highlighting the renovation of the Washington Park building a short distance away. He called it an effective example of adaptive reuse in a fast-changing landscape of financing, policy, and urban infrastructure.

“By the mid-2010s, it was really obvious that the removal of the Alaskan Way viaduct was going to present a big opportunity,” Angus said, noting that the transition shook up waterfront property valuations and that the Local Improvement District tax chased out some owners. “Once [the viaduct] came down, the Washington Park building made a lot more sense.”

Built in 1890, the building’s industrial origins, relatively stable soil, and smaller scope made it more feasible than other projects. Retrofitting made up 40 percent of the $39 million budget, including acquisition costs. Improvements included reinforcing the foundation, bracing almost everything, adding mezzanines between floors with high ceilings, and adding a penthouse and roof deck to increase the rentable space.

The landscape keeps changing, Angus noted, as energy codes get stricter and the post-pandemic market continues to evolve. “The next wave of Pioneer Square projects won’t look like the last one,” he said. “Projects will be smaller, sharper, and more carefully structured. If you’re diving in, get the city and your structural engineer involved early. That will be the key to making these projects pencil.”

Financial Incentives: Who Pays for What

The symposium also featured panel discussions on financial incentives for adaptive reuse projects and the technical realities of working with Seattle’s inventory of unreinforced masonry buildings.

The finance panel, moderated by Tracey Seslen, a professor of finance and business economics at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, discussed diverse perspectives:

• Architectural historian Ellen Mirro, principal at Studio TJP, spoke about existing and potential preservation incentives for URM retrofits, including landmarks, as well as an ongoing statewide effort to identify feasible tax incentives moving forward.
• Ahmad Cory Jubran, senior director of West Coast originations at Nuveen Green Capital, spoke about C-PACE, a financing mechanism that allows property owners to borrow money for energy-related and resiliency improvements and repay it through property tax assessments.
• Becky Teipen, owner of The Shambles restaurant and bar, shared her perspective as a tenant in a 1930s URM building in Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood, balancing a desire for character and authenticity with the reality of higher costs and risk.
• Jeffery Judson-Baker, director of investments at Lake Union Partners, highlighted projects such as the State Hotel in downtown Seattle, the creative capital stacks that made the projects possible, and the premium paid for the “cool” factor.

A Seismic Opportunity for Upgrades

The URM panel, moderated by Andrew Ellis, design manager at GLY Construction, featured several experts discussing the nuances of shoring up old buildings in an earthquake zone:

• Amanda Hertzfeld, URM program manager for the city of Seattle, talked about the “ticking clock” of earthquake threats and the urgency of advancing HB 1810—to study and incentivize life-saving retrofits—in the next legislative session.
• Architect Matt Aalfs, founding partner at BuildingWork, talked through the sustainability, community, and quality arguments for adaptive reuse, highlighting the Metropole Building and the Green Lake branch of Seattle Public Library.
• Structural engineer Francesca Renouard, associate principal at Swenson Say Fagét, spoke in technical detail about the firm’s seismic assessment of and upgrades to 419 Occidental, a seven-story URM building in Pioneer Square.
• Steve Buerk, director of business development and preconstruction at Rafn, stressed the importance of craftsmanship and highlighted the major retrofit of Byrd Barr Place in the Central District, one of the city’s earliest fire stations.

“Historic buildings contribute to cultural continuity and sense of place, and that’s really important to the health of our communities,” Aalfs said, adding that preserving older architecture is often preferable to the significant carbon footprint of new construction. “We have to do a better job of reusing and revitalizing existing structures, because we can’t build our way out of the climate crisis.”

A key takeaway from panelists was the value of embracing the risks and rewards of adaptive reuse projects in the interest of keeping neighborhoods resilient and relevant.

“At its core, adaptive reuse works best when it creates shared value,” Seslen said during the finance panel, “rewarding developers for their risk and investment, supporting tenants with safe and vibrant spaces, and preserving the cultural character that makes our neighborhood special.”