Once the building is gone, the site will serve as a staging area for constructing a new off-ramp from 24th Avenue East to East Lake Washington Boulevard. The site will then return to its natural state and become a basin that will capture stormwater runoff from the reconstructed highway, improving water quality in Lake Washington. The surrounding area will be integrated into the nearby East Montlake Park and Washington Park Arboretum.
The museum moved from the building in Montlake on 24th Avenue East to its current home on Lake Union in 2012. Demolition of the unused building is part of the improvements the SR 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Program is bringing to Seattle.
Other construction activities now underway include removal of the “ramps to nowhere” in the Washington Park Arboretum and construction of a nearly 1-mile-long, elevated work platform across Union Bay. Crews will use the temporary platform to build a new approach bridge that carries the westbound lanes of SR 520 from the new floating bridge to Montlake.
The new floating bridge is scheduled to open to drivers in spring 2016. All but three of the 77 pontoons that make up the backbone of the new bridge are now constructed, with the rest slated for completion this spring.
The new West Approach Bridge North will open in 2017.