WaMu Center

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The 17th floor garden roof as seen from the 43rd floor roof.

WaMu Center is the newest and largest skyscraper to mark Seattle's skyline in nearly 15 years, and is the city's 6th tallest building, at 182 meters (598 feet), with 42 floors. Major construction ended in early 2006, with minor construction continuing into the fall, and tenants from Washington Mutual (WaMu) began to move in to the tower in March of 2006. The architect for the tower is NBBJ, which also designed nearby Two Union Square and other notable buildings in the downtown area of Seattle. Sellen Construction was the general contractor for the project. The tower is located at 1301 2nd Avenue, on the opposite corner from Washington Mutual Tower.

WaMu Center was built to stand as Washington Mutual's headquarters, and to move most of its many Seattle area workers into one tower, to streamline operations, and to encourage worker interaction, with a 'reinvention' of the work place. There is also a private 20,000 square-foot rooftop patio on the west half of the 17th floor for workers of the tower to take walks along the several walking paths.

The tower includes the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) on the first 4 floors of the west half of the building, and connects to the museum's existing building on the southern portion of the block. WaMu and SAM made a agreement where the museum may expand in 2-floor increments up to the 12th floor over the next 20 years as needed.^[1]