Former Benton Jewelers Building Demolished Today

Benton Jewelers building demolished

Demolition has started on the upcoming Aegis Living Assisted Living triangular site at Five Corners, which will include 135 units in a six story building (55-70 feet) with 53 parking stalls and 2500 square feet of retail on the first floor which would house a salon and cafe, according to the design proposal submitted in July 2016.

The landmark Benton clock that has stood in front of Benton Jewelers since 1986 which then became Edward Jones (3615 NE 45th Street) next to the location where China Village used to be, was taken down last month and put into storage.

The cost to move and store the clock is $30,000.   

Jennifer, Director of Marketing, with Aegis Living, told the Laurelhurst Blog:

The clock was removed over 3 days, (5/20-22) by a professional clock restoration service, Tick Tock Tony.  The clock was not currently in working condition, although the good news is it has all of its parts.  The clock will be restored to working order and retrofitted with LED backlighting (it was not working when it was taken down), stored for the duration of construction, and replaced in a prominent position visible to the 5 corners intersection upon building opening, when building construction is complete.  

The new location will be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Board. Options include placing it on the corner of Ne Street and NE 45th Place, or in the large new courtyard which will face NE 45th Street. 

The street clock, associated with Benton Jeweler’s, originally stood at the first jeweler's locations on University Way from 1911 to 1986. It was then moved to its current location when Benton moved to that new location. Benton’s Jeweler’s closed in 2008 just short of their 100th anniversary. 

Aegis bought the clock from the Benton family. The clock is one of only nine street clocks left in the City of Seattle, and all are designated as City landmarks. At one time Seattle had over 50 such clocks.  

Prior to removing the clock, Aegis received approval from the Landmarks Preservation Board.  The clock was transported and will be stored by Artech, which is licensed and bonded to transport and store large art pieces and specialty objects.

Aegis will be demolishing all the buildings inside the fenced area which include 3200 and 3232 NE 45th Street and 3215 NE 45th Place. The demolition of the five buildings will take about one month. Recently a salvage/recyclable truck has been at the site removing items in each buildings, removing items to be diverted from landfills with separate waste streams by the demolition contractor.

Demolition trucks and equipment will stage on private property and traffic disruptions should be minimal. No lane obstructions are anticipated during demolition, however there will be some disconnects of existing utilities and installation of new upgraded utility infrastructure for the project and area that will occur in the right of way and are being scheduled around heavy traffic times and in some cases overnight. Flaggers will be present during construction phases that require lane obstruction. This will be intermittent throughout construction.