Town Hall Seattle, Client of Merganser Project Management

Project

Renovation of Town Hall Seattle

Client

Town Hall Seattle

Dates

2014–2019

Awards

2020 Historic Seattle
Exemplary Stewardship Award
About the Project

Town Hall Seattle’s building was originally constructed as the Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist from 1916–1922. In 1998, it was sold to a group of philanthropists who repurposed the building as a performing arts center. With the mission to host a broad range of programming at radically affordable prices, Town Hall has become a beloved civic institution.

When purchased in the ’90s, many of the building’s systems were woefully out of date. This renovation project took the building back to its original concrete and masonry shell and then refurbished the building with seismic improvements, new mechanical and electrical systems, new finishes, and all-new AV systems.

Mike Weller joined the project in late 2016 and served as the owner’s representative for Town Hall through contract negotiations, construction, and project closeout. The project included public and private funding as well as an extensive public outreach effort.

Fun Fact

While demolishing an original wall, the contractor discovered a newspaper from 1922 announcing the discovery of King Tut’s tomb. Demolition also uncovered substantial floor cracking underneath the original carpets, likely caused by earthquakes. A specialty epoxy-injection company was able to repair the floor cracks under the direction of the project’s structural engineer.

Town Hall Seattle: Renovation in Progress
Town Hall Seattle: Renovation in Progress
Rendering of Town Hall Seattle
Town Hall Seattle: Renovation in Progress
From Our Client

As Town Hall’s project manager and the owner’s representative for our $35M restoration/renovation project, Mike absolutely drove the process. Our nonprofit staff most certainly did not come from development or construction (or architecture or engineering or permitting, or …) backgrounds, so we depended heavily on Mike’s expertise in navigating all of those areas at once to steer us through the years-long process.

His diplomacy is unsurpassed; he always manages to remain calm. I can’t remember a time that I saw him publicly bothered by a situation or by the sometimes-aggravating process. His attention to and precision with detail made him a dependable and trusted resource. In addition, he was unfailingly respectful of us as layperson (read: sometimes clueless) clients, and he is a pleasure to work with.

I guess construction projects are not generally known for being smooth sailing, start to finish, but having Mike on our team truly made the whole thing possible—and not only possible, but it’s also complete! What a relief!

—Mary Cutler, former General Manager of Town Hall Seattle