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BUSINESS | Haggen grocery store in Crossroads to close; move affects 75 employees [7]
Arts | Music Works Northwest hits the right notes in providing music education to FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2013 generations of students [14]
Community | Hualien, Taiwan’s first lady, Zhang Mei-Hui, participates in festive at Bellevue City Hall. [2]
WSDOT pays $71 million to fix 520 bridge pontoons The Washington State Department of Transportation and its contractors have reached agreements on the cost of repairing four pontoons from the first construction cycle and modifying another four pontoons from the second cycle for the new State Route 520 floating bridge. In February, WSDOT acknowledged a design error that led to cracks in the initial cycle of concrete pontoons, which
also required modifications to the second construction cycle to meet the new bridge’s 75-year design life. At that time, WSDOT estimated repairs would cost tens of millions of dollars. The actual cost is slightly more than $71 million. Repairs were recommended by an engineering firm specializing in the repair of concrete structures, and then endorsed by an expert review panel.
“These repairs are important to ensure we are building a safe bridge that meets the needs of the traveling public and supports the regional transportation system for many years,” said WSDOT Secretary Lynn Peterson. “We are committed to following the recommendations of the expert review panel and moving forward.” For the first change order, WSDOT will pay $48.8 million to floating bridge con-
tractor Kiewit-General-Manson, A Joint Venture, to complete Cycle 1 pontoon crack repairs. These repairs for Cycle 1 have been underway since June to help keep overall bridge construction moving. The repair procedure will address cracks that developed in the keel slabs SEE PONTOONS, 3
Downtown site sells for record $808 per sq. foot
BELLEVUE TEENS VOLUNTEER IN NICARAGUA
Aneesa (left) and Amara (right) Shaik teach paper quilling lessons at an orphanage in the town of San Marcos, Nicaragua. For what was their second trip to Nicaragua, the sisters had to plan their volunteer experience in the country, find an adult to accompany them, take a self-defense course and pay for half their airplane ticket. Read about their trip on Page 6. COURTESY PHOTO
The site of Bellevue Rare Coins in downtown Bellevue sold last week at a record price of $808 per square foot.The 6,250 square foot property at 10541 N.E. Fourth St. was purchased by Can105 Development LLC for $5 million. Two months ago, another downtown property that houses Mexican restaurant Las Margaritas, sold for what was then deemed a record value of $31 million. Both sites would be eligible for high-rise development under the zoning of the area. According to a story in the Puget Sound Business Journal, it’s unclear what the buyer, listed on a public document as Paul Hsiang Chun Chang, plans to do with the Bellevue Rare Coins property. However, Bob Bencze, the real estate broker who helped him buy the site, said Chang is a Puget Sound-area resident who’s a “land buyer and future possible developer.” Chang owns a quarter acre to the south of Bellevue Rare Coins. The sale price is a significant increase over King County's last appraisal of the lot at $1.44 million and far exceeds what the owners paid for the property. In 2004, Mohammed and Zeenat Miraly of Mercer Island paid just $1.5 million for the site, according to public records.
On the Hyatt Courtyard
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