The city of Renton is responding to public outcry over alledged crime emanating from the vacant building in north Renton by doing what they can within the law to secure the building.

At the Jan. 6 Renton city council meeting, many people spoke during the public comment period of their disapproval of the handling of the former Boeing 10-16 building located at 535 Garden Avenue North. Commenters claimed the building attracts crime and drugs to the area while being an attractive danger for thrill seekers. One man called the building a “fentanyl frat house.”

According to the King County Department of Assessments, one of the two office buildings was built in 1980 and the other larger building and parking garage were built in 1988. The building was owned by Boeing until December 2021 when it was sold to current owner, ION Renton LLC, a company based in California, for $12 million, far below the appraised total value from that year of nearly $46 million.

Many local residents, including North Renton Neighborhood Association board member Diane Dobson, have wanted the city to do more to make the building safer for the community.

“I’m sure it is equally frustrating for the city as it is for the residents, but on a different level. The city is dealing with the logistics, the legalities and government process and put good faith into this developer that they were going to do the right thing. They are now left with cleaning up the pieces,” Dobson said. “In the meantime the community, whether it be the businesses or the residents are dealing with runoff and trickle down of the impacts: increased crime, vagrancy, malicious mischief.”

Dobson said people have stripped into the power supply of the building and it has caused a power shortage for a nearby fabrication company. She thinks the vacant building is resulting in more crime to the area.

“Just on that Park Avenue strip, the increase of crime is magnificent, whether it be stolen cars, break ins to businesses, threats to customers,” Dobson said. “We can see a direct influence to the crime that’s happening in north Renton and that’s frustrating.”

Dobson compared the crime stemming from the building to water on the floor from a leak and said it’s time they fix the leak.

“Residents, we just want it fixed now. We want the doors boarded. Those little common sense fixes that are going to help, that the city’s hands are somewhat tied on,” Dobson said.

Dobson said that, previously, the fencing was wide open and there were no signs to dissuade trespassing on the property.

“It’s a nightmare in there,” Dobson said. “There’s not one floor on that property that’s not touched, that the property is not destroyed, that the wires are not stripped. There’s multiple fires in the building at a time. Things are being hurled off the building.”

Dobson said she was sitting at the coffee stand across the street from the building one morning when she witnessed a filing cabinet fly out a seventh floor window.

“The first three floors, you can’t walk through without your throat closing up from the smell of fentanyl and drugs,” Dobson said.

She also said the open elevator shafts present a dangerous attraction for teenagers and tourists.

“It’s talked about on Reddit on urban discovery pages. They exchange the address to see these abandoned buildings or haunted locations,” Dobson said. “That’s not what we want to attract to Renton.”

President of the North Renton Neighborhood Association Meredith Farmer said she became involved with the association after she had a “particularly upsetting incident” happen near the building. She said she used to walk past the building every morning on her way to Coulon Park until she was followed by someone wearing a face mask that had exited the building as she passed. Farmer said she was then followed down another street and had to enter an operational Boeing building where she called 911 for assistance.

“I was just terrified,” Farmer said. “After that I was like ‘I can’t walk down this road anymore.’ So it’s been eight months now since I’ve been comfortable walking to Coulon Park anymore. People do not feel safe in our neighborhood.”

Farmer said a fence has been put up several times now and is cut into every time.

According to the King County Department of Assessments, the taxable improvement value for the property dropped from more than $40 million in 2022 to approximately one million in 2023, to $1,000 in 2023 and 2024.

“That means all those calls for service with the property taxes they are not paying, we’re subsidizing as residents,” Dobson said. “It’s not fair to our first responders to put them in that type of risk.”

Dobson said “it was downhill” after a fire at the location in June 2023. During that fire, two men and a dog were rescued from the building. According to Renton Fire, an investigation found that the fire was intentionally set and resulted in an estimated $100,000 worth of damage.

Mayor Armondo Pavone agreed that the property is dangerous.

“There is vandalism, and trespassing has occurred at different intervals,” Pavone said. “The important thing is that it’s dangerous and we need to make sure the property owners secure it.”

Pavone said the city has been taking code enforcement action against the owner for the condition of the property, which includes issuing warnings and formal orders with associated daily fines that are actively accruing.

“We have also been working with the owner on its development and demolition plans. The City completed its review of an application to demolish the buildings, but the owner has not yet picked up and paid for those permits,” Pavone said. “While we have had some ongoing communication with owner representatives, compliance and cooperation has lessened recently. That reduced cooperation led the City to recently issue a fourth Notice of Violation and Order to Correct, which provides higher daily fines and orders more specific corrective action.”

Pavone said the city is actively trying to schedule a meeting with the owner to address the next steps and come to an agreement. He said the city is limited on what actions it can take.

“It’s private property, first and foremost. This means there are constitutional and other legal protections that limit and guide the City’s ability to directly solve the issue on its own,” Pavone said. “With permission of the owner, we are enforcing a No Trespassing order and have imposed a Do Not Occupy order to prohibit occupancy of the premises. Violators of those orders are subject to criminal prosecution, so we encourage the public to report activity on the property when it is witnessed so that our police department can respond and help to deter continued violations of those orders.”

Pavone said the city is asking the owners of the property to increase the security.

“We have given the property owner immediate notice to secure the fence and building openings, and provide 24 hour security to deter and prevent the ongoing nuisance activity,” Pavone said. “What we want is to work with the property owner to either demolish the building or bring it up to code. If the owner fails to voluntarily comply, legal action in court may become necessary.”

The owners of the property, ION Renton LLC, have not responded for comment as of publishing.

Dobson and Farmer, along with other speakers at the Jan. 13 city council meeting, expressed frustration at a lack of updates on the management of the building. At the meeting, Council president James Alberson, Jr. said the message was heard “loud and clear” that the communication has been lacking and that it was going to be better.

“Sometimes it’s difficult when you don’t have any forward progress to report, then you tend not to report anything,” Alberson said. “I think it’s like sitting at a restaurant and you’re wondering why your meal is taking so long. You feel a lot better when the server says, ‘I’m so sorry. They are slammed in the kitchen.’ You don’t get your meal, but at least you understand what’s going on.”

Farmer said she has faith the city is doing everything it can to resolve this issue.

“I think everyone wants the same thing. I don’t know anyone here that wants that building to stay. I really think we all share the same goal,” Farmer said. “I don’t think the city dragged their feet in an effort to cause problems or because they didn’t want to do anything. They really had good faith in this developer who had the demolition permit and never came to pick it up.”

Photo by Drew Dotson/ Sound Publishing

Photo by Drew Dotson/ Sound Publishing