Denny’s closes in preparation of WSDOT construction

WSDOT says the store owners moved the Lake Washington Boulevard diner to Tumwater, Washington

By Haley Ausbun • January 25, 2019 1:30 am

Renton’s northernmost Denny’s restaurant closed at the end of 2018 in preparation of Washington State Department of Transportation’s construction.

Hungry customers who look at the Denny’s now see a sign on the door reading they closed due to construction related to Interstate 405.

The Denny’s was located at 4750 Lake Washington Blvd. Northeast in Renton.

The exact project is rebuilding the interchange at Northeast 44th Street, WSDOT’s Victoria Miller said. A roundabout will be placed where the Denny’s is.

A new direct access ramp and station will also be built to support bus rapid transit operations.

While Miller said WSDOT is in the process of acquiring the Denny’s property, there is no other property acquisition that will be required for this part of the project.

Miller said the owners had the option to decide what to do with their restaurant equipment and chose to relocate to a new location in Tumwater. She said they had to move so the building could be demolished by summer 2019.

The project is expected to be awarded to a contractor and then start construction as early as fall this year, Miller said.

According to Buzzfile.com, the Denny’s had 30 employees. The Renton Reporter was unable to reach Denny’s or the manager to ask if these employees were relocated and verify the franchise owners switched to the new Tumwater location.

Some people took to Renton Facebook pages in August 2018 when they learned of the closure. Multiple posts and comments thanked the employees who served them hot breakfast foods for all those years.

This construction is part of the larger Renton to Bellevue widening and express toll lanes project, Miller said.

The Renton to Bellevue project is scheduled to open to traffic in 2024.

A few other features of the Renton to Bellevue project:

• Building a new lane in each direction between state Route 167 in Renton and Northeast Sixth Street in Bellevue to create a dual express toll lane system.

• Adding a southbound auxiliary lane between I-90 and 112th Avenue Southeast, and between Northeast 44th Street and Northeast 30th Street.

• Improvements at other interchanges, including Northeast Park Drive in Renton.

More information is available at: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I405/RentontoBellevue/.