It is not easy or cheap to build a second convention center building in an urban area like downtown Seattle, but that was a clearable hurdle for the former Washington State Convention Center, which broke ground on the Summit Building addition in 2018. Renamed the Seattle Convention Center last year, the facility opened the Summit in January.
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“This building is a game changer for our destination,” says Jeff Blosser, president and CEO of the Seattle Convention Center. “It really sets the stage for us to provide the right kind of space for clients as well as [to offer] additional dates. I think it really opens up that opportunity for us to be a demand generator.”
At a cost of $1 billion while adding 570,290 square feet of event space on five floors, the Summit doubles the amount of event space the convention center can offer and allows increased flexibility, enabling more than one show to run at the same time. In addition, the Summit is flooded with natural light and may well lead the nation in sustainability measures.
“We wanted to make sure that we let outside light into every space,” Blosser says. “There is a huge amount of glass, but there is also a major atrium that runs through the entire building. There is a large amount of reclaimed wood in the facility. … And we hope to be LEED Platinum-[certified] once we get everything done.”
The Summit also includes rainwater filtration for irrigation and toilet flushing, radiant heat floors on the south-facing side, carpets and other fabrics made from recycled materials, dehydrators that reduce the volume of food waste by 90%, and a rooftop solar array.
Some of these sustainable features, along with the downtown construction location, contributed to the hefty price tag of the Summit. However, Blosser says it is paid for through the convention center’s status as a King County public facilities district (PFD), a classification that allows the facility to issue bonds backed, in this case, by hotel taxes. The PFD, which owns both Seattle Convention Center buildings, also used funds they acquired over time to bankroll the seven-block-long Summit.
All that investment affected and will affect Seattle in profound ways, including 6,000 construction jobs and another 2,500 jobs in the building and ancillary businesses going forward. In addition, the Seattle Convention Center projects $19 million in tax generation from the Summit, which is in addition to the $26 million generated by the original building before COVID-19, Blosser says.
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