King County redeveloping Factoria Transfer Station

It's out with the old and in with the new at the Factoria Transfer Station, where for the past week crews have been demolishing antiquated warehouses to make way for a $50 million facility upgrade.

By Brandon Macz • October 7, 2014 8:56 pm
Two King County-owned warehouses are being torn down on Southeast 30th Street to make way for a new Factoria Transfer Station. Crews were razing the east building on Tuesday.
Two King County-owned warehouses are being torn down on Southeast 30th Street to make way for a new Factoria Transfer Station. Crews were razing the east building on Tuesday.

It’s out with the old and in with the new at the Factoria Transfer Station, where for the past week crews have been demolishing antiquated warehouses to make way for a $50 million facility upgrade.

The west building had been leveled and the east was still coming down at the station Tuesday. The current transfer station lacks the space and height to accommodate larger commercial vehicles that were not anticipated when the station was constructed in the mid-1960s, said Doug Williams, a spokesman for the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks.

A larger, taller and more environmentally friendly facility will be constructed within the footprint of the razed warehouses off of Southeast 30th Street, across from the current transfer station.

Seattle contractor Parametrix is aiming for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold rating.

Translucent ceiling panels will provide natural lighting and energy savings, and rainwater will be collected from the roof and used for washing floors.

“That gets cleaned and sent to the storm water system,” Williams said. “It’s a great use of that resource.”

The larger facility will also be able to accommodate more recycling services, adding yard waste, clean wood and scrap metal to the list of more common materials like glass, aluminum and paper, he said.

The three-year project will be constructed in phases to allow the present transfer station to continue being used. It is the third transfer station to be redeveloped by the county, with the Bow Lake and Shoreline facility projects already completed.

King County expects to reduce transfer trailer truck trips to and from the station by about 30 percent by using new compactors that will crush and weigh garbage before it’s loaded onto trucks

“Before we got this technology, the loaders — the people running the loading machinery — had to just kind of eyeball the trucks that would haul the collected garbage from the transfer station to the landfill,” Williams said. “They would fill it until they thought they were close to the approximate weight.”