Thursday, November 16, 2006

Cleaning Up

Getting down to the wire. All our boxes are packed and we're ready to go. The movers are coming in bright and early tomorrow morning to get us moved in.

The cleaners are doing a good job on the furniture and the construction crews are working on cleaning up everything else.

Now we're preparing for all the staff who will want to switch workstations when they finally get to see what they look like and where they are...

611 S Lane St!

After WEEKS of negotiating with the city, we finally have an official address! 611 South Lane Street, Seattle, WA 98104.

Months ago, we were told that we should choose an odd number between 601 and 619 since Cathay Bank is 621 S Lane. So we picked 611 and assumed all was well until about 3 weeks ago.

Turns out that the way the city numbers things is based on where the walkway comes out of the building. So even though we're facing Lane St, and the bank right next to us has a Lane St address, we were told we had to have a Maynard Ave address!

After much consulting with the city and working with their supervisors, they decided to let us go with 611 S Lane. Good thing too, since the movers are coming tomorrow. It's been kind of difficult taking deliveries when no one can find us.

Even ended up having to stand out on the corner in the rain last week to direct a delivery truck to our site! To make it even more confusing, the original address of the building was 624 S Dearborn, but on all the permits it was incorrectly listed as 628 S Dearborn.

Monday, November 13, 2006

More Pics

Here are pics of workers preparing the downstairs lobby for carpet installation. The original floor is concrete with rocks in it. Not very attractive. Also not level with the outside walkway.

After cleaning the surface, they poured more concrete so that the water won't run into the building when it rains. And our seniors won't trip as they exit the building!

Final Touches

We're all set to move into our space on Friday! We can hardly believe it. After more than a year of working and waiting and waiting some more, we're finally ready to occupy our new home!

We plan to close down Thursday, the 16th to allow staff to pack up their final belongings. Friday, first thing bright and early, the movers will be on site to move everything over. Luckily it's only 3 blocks, so we won't have to contend with much traffic - we hope!

Here you can see the beginnings of the new stairs. The elevator had a little hiccup last week, but is now running fine. Should have no problem moving all our furniture, books, and lots and lots of files upstairs.

Monday the 20th is set aside for staff to unpack their belongings and we'll be back in business on Tuesday the 21st. Just in time for Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Wall Panels

They're up! Now that the elevator's working, we've been able to get the operable partitions up to the International Family Center on the 2nd floor. Work on the tracks was completed long ago. We've just been waiting for the panels (which weigh about 300 pounds each) to be moved upstairs.

These movable walls provide great flexiblity in how we are able to use our space in the Family Center. Whether they're all closed so we have 5 separate rooms for meetings and classes, or all open so we have one large gathering space for community events, these panels allow for multiple uses and many different configurations.

Many thanks to our sponsors of these rooms: Kam Au, Bill and Agnes Kwan, and Sinclair and Genevieve Yee. Your support will touch the lives of over 1,200 families each year who use the Family Center!

Elevator

It works! At long last, after many trials and tribulations, the elevator is up and running. No more forklifting furniture up from the ground floor. Although it is not yet approved for passengers, we can use it to move furniture and materials up to the 2nd and 3rd floors.

After installation of the new cyllindar, ADA upgrades and electrical work, it's like a brand new elevator. Super quiet and smooth too. Now we just have to lose the 70's avocado green paint and 12 flourescent lights that make you feel like you're in a Wal-Mart on steroids.