Ronald McDonald House Construction Underway

Nearby Ronald McDonald House (5130 40th Avenue NE) has started construction under Master Use Permit # is 3033192-LU.

The project will add 25 bedrooms to the existing House, which will address about half of the  nightly waiting list, Dianna, Executive Director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Western Washington & Alaska told the Laurelhurst Blog.


She added:

The addition will architecturally match our existing building all at three stories, and will occupy the space where the 6 PROVAIL units were.  The project will likely take 12 month until mid-September 2021. 

As of September 10th, we broke ground starting with brush removal. Currently demolition is underway and nearly finished. Crews are working on removing the last of the old concrete foundation. 

The excavation part of the project which will last  3-4 weeks. We anticipate some noise and dust during this time. Trucks will be coming in and out of the construction site to take dirt and debris away. The trucks will use Sand Point Way to access the freeway going to and from the site.  

This week crews are doing pre-foundation work on the site, which will be followed with work on the water retention system. We are on schedule to start pin pilings by mid-October, a noisy process which will take 8-10 days. 

We do not anticipate the work crew taking up street parking because we will handle all parking on siteThe sidewalk will remain open. 

The wetland in the back of the site will be protected and the finished project will involve a lot of landscaping and native planting and it will be a visual improvement from the current street view. There will be a construction fence in front of the Wetland.  We have had a registered wetland firm involved for 18 months and they did all the surrounding area planting lists and then the City wetlands reviewer had the final say on quantity and specific native plantings. 

Our aim is to complete this construction project with as little neighborhood disruption as possible. Our construction crew will be taking standard measures to reduce potential disturbance wherever possible, including spraying the construction site with water throughout the day to keep dust levels down and flagging the road when loads are coming and going. 

Most construction parking will remain onsite, while the sidewalk in front of the House and 40th Avenue NE will remain accessible to all traffic. Construction is expected to take place between 7-6pm each day, with impact noise restricted to the hours of 8-5pm. 

We will do monthly project updates here and will work hard to mitigate any site concerns as they come up. 

The Laurelhurst Blog asked about Joe Pace, former NBA Washington Bullets player, who has lived at the site for a number of years with his brother. Dianna said that Joe still lives at the complex in the south PROVAIL units, just past the Burke Gilman apartments.


The Ronald McDonald website says:

The Ronald McDonald House opened in 1983 and supports seriously ill children and their families. The Ronald McDonald House provides more than 28,000 nights of housing a year for families with children receiving treatment at Seattle Children’s Hospital and 450+ families are served annually. 

Our House started in 1983 with just 20 rooms. In 2003, we built two new facilities, including a self-contained apartment unit for bone marrow transplant patients. While the majority of our patients come from Western Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho, we serve any family whose child is receiving treatment at Seattle Children’s Hospital, including out of state and international patients. 

We provide a 'home-away-from-home' to help families through a difficult time. 

We depend on charitable donations and volunteer support from many individuals, corporations and foundations for our continued existence.

Go here for more information.