I have been following the story of the McGuire high-rise in Seattle—a 9-year old, 26 floor apartment building that is being evacuated for demolition and unfortunately, it is one of those lose-lose-lose situations for all involved. The more information that comes out the more you see that no one-side is at fault. It is simply a series of mistakes, bad judgment calls, and corner cutting all the way around.

Residents of the building are being asked to move out and some businesses are being put out of business because of this. While they joked about the poor construction of the building and debated over what would break next, they now have to find a new place to call home, and for how long?

The owners paid for an apartment building to be constructed so they could rent it out and earn money. They got a building, but unfortunately 9-years later they have to tear it down—or so they think. Did they skimp during the planning process? Did they want to build the cheapest building possible? I don’t know, but it is not something that can be ruled out.

The contractors and designers involved in this process are getting so much negative press, I am not sure they will ever be able to rebound. They also claim the damages can be fixed and that the building does not need to be demolished. While that is great news if it is true, why should such a young building need so much work? It started rusting when it was barely 3-years old!

Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development considers themselves to be a “safety net” protecting customers from getting shoddy work, but they too missed things and approved things that should not have been approved. While the city has made it known that they are looking to learn from this experience, they are also making it clear that they use third-party inspectors. So are they passing the blame or do they need to revamp their approval process, amongst other things? Regardless of the changes, it is still going to be innocent companies and people that pay for these mistakes.

What do you think about this whole situation?