Is nothing sacred? Seattle church to become a restaurant and ballroom
By John Caulfield, Senior Editor
A Seattle-based real estate developer plans to convert a historic downtown building, which for more than a century has served as a church sanctuary, into a restaurant with ballroom space.
Daniels Real Estate has owned this 107-year-old building since 2008, one year after Daniels was founded. The Puget Sound Business Journal reports that Daniels has submitted information to the City Landmarks Preservation Board, with drawings that show the main and balcony levels of the church being turned into a restaurant, and the basement of the church becoming a ballroom area.
People would be able to enter the restaurant from Fifth + Columbia, a $400 million, 43-story tower that Daniels started building in June 2014 and is scheduled to complete in 2017. The lower floors of the high rise will become SLS Seattle, a luxury hotel whose interiors were designed by French designer Philippe Starck, who is also redesigning the church. The upper floors will be offices.
ZGF Architects designed the tower, which is being built by JTM. Seattle-based Ron Wright & Associates/Architects is also involved in the project.
When Daniels Real Estate paid $32 million to the First Methodist Church to acquire the sanctuary and an adjacent property, it had agreed to preserve the sanctuary and move its congregants to a new church near the Seattle Center. The Business Journal reports that Daniels had turned the sanctuary into a recital hall, and leased the building to a branch of Mars Hill Church, which disbanded on January 1.
Kevin Daniels, the developer’s owner, says there’s at least a year’s worth of work to move the sanctuary project from “the big idea stage” to fruition.
