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The $1 million seismic retrofit for the clock tower is scheduled to be finished by the end of next month, said Paul Smith, director of facility services at Evergreen.
Seventy-five percent of the cost is being paid for through a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency; the remainder is being paid for with funding from the state Emergency Management Division, according to Evergreen spokesman Jason Wettstein.
The clock tower was completed in 1971 and lacked the resilience of modern seismic designs, Smith said.
Although it wasn’t damaged during the 2001 Nisqually earthquake – which damaged numerous buildings in the area, including the Legislative Building on the Capitol Campus – crews determined the concrete paneled structure could “catastrophically fail” during a sizable event, Smith said.
Reid Middleton of Everett designed the retrofit. Crews with Leewens Corp. of Kirkland are adding a fiber-reinforced polymer wrapping around its beams and columns.
The work isn’t expected to change the overall look of the tower, Smith said.
“It will be new-concrete looking,” he said.
Wettstein said the clock tower has always been a central meeting place for students. Washington Gov. Dan Evans and the legendary mountaineer Willi Unsoeld are among those who have rapelled it.
“It’s the most recognizable aspect of a building on campus,” Wettstein said. “(It) has been central to us throughout our 40-year history.”
Lisa Pemberton: 360-754-5433
lpemberton@theolympian.com
