Apartments for Malt House?

Developer proposes apartments on top of historic brewery site

A rendering of a proposal to build 30 apartments on top of the Rainier Malt House along Airport Way S

Big changes could be coming to Airport Way S.

A developer wants to build about 30 apartments at the old Rainier Beer Malt House, 5900 Airport Way S. The residences would be on top of commercial space on the ground floor. 

 A Seattle historic landmark, the three buildingsꟷthe Brew House, Malt House, and Bottling Plantꟷhave lined the east side of Airport Way S in Georgetown for more than a century. They house several business tenants. The area was rezoned to allow residential and commercial development in 2023.

GGLO Architects proposes demolishing more than 52,000 square feet of the 72,466-sq ft. Malt House building. It deems much of the space "unusable" and wants to build behind and on top of a portion of the preserved brick front a modern building. The new, mass timber building would have ground floor retail with one-bedroom and studio residences on four floors above. A loggia behind the brick wall would allow for a more walkable area for pedestrians than the current narrow sidewalk.

"[T]his will really ... highlight the historic building while breathing new life into it adding vibrance and activation at the street level while bringing much needed housing to the area," said John Olivier, SKB's executive vice president for development. ScanlanKemperBard (SKB) owns the property. Olivier made the comments at a Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board Architectural Review Committee meeting in January.

Some committee members praised the overall idea but also expressed concern the proposed modern building dominates the remaining brick wall and doesn't integrate well with it.

"I question what is the purpose of retaining just, essentially, a single wall," said Ian Macleod, a member of the architectural review committee. The proposed new building has "swallowed" the historic building, he later added.

Olivier said low beams in the ceilings, 7 feet from floor to ceiling, made floors unusable and unleasable. "Keeping the facade is the one piece that we can do and still reuse and allow people to experience" it from a historical perspective, he said.

"I don't usually like preserving just facades of buildings. We've done that too much in some places, but this might be the place where it is necessary," committee member Harriet Wasserman said.

The proposal is in the early stages. Olivier told the committee he wanted to get feedback on approval to demolish much of the historic building before seeking design approval and spending the time and money to do so. No decision was made and Olivier and GGLO will return to the committee at a later date.

For the proposal to proceed, the architectural review committee would have to approve the proposed design. The Seattle City Council would also have to approve the development.

The Seattle Brewing and Malting Co. plant was completed in 1903 and later became the Rainier Brewing Co. It was one of the largest breweries in the West and became the largest industrial establishment in the state, according to historical facts found in the proposal. Georgetown's history is tied to the plant. The community incorporated to protect the booming industry from growing anti-alcohol sentiment. The beermaker's superintendent became Georgetown's mayor. Georgetown became a major stop on the railroad and the Georgetown Steam Plant was built to power the brewery and railroad industries. With thousands of workers living nearby, Georgetown's population reached as high 7,000. Today's population is about 2,000.

The brewery operated until 1916 when Prohibition was enacted. After repeal, the Rainier operation later relocated north about two miles up the road building the plant with the big "R".

More details and renderings of the proposed development can be found here.

To watch the Jan. 16 Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board's Architectural Review Committee meeting, click here. The password is wQWWjX4Z.