Seattle Press on Line - New Buildings are Owned by Retired Construction Workers

Labor Day Dispatch

New Buildings are Owned by Retired Construction Workers

Operating Engineers Local 302 member George Rountree earns union wages and builds future pension income.

Aug 23, 2000 -- Two new buildings now under construction on Fremont's waterfront are owned by thousands of retired construction workers in the Seattle area.

Their pension funds were invested in the Park View and Waterside buildings in the Quadrant Lake Union Center located just west of the Fremont Bridge.

Both buildings will be occupied by Getty Images, the world’s largest supplier of photographs and illustrations to the publishing industry.

The buildings are being constructed by GLY Inc. using all union labor, thus providing continuing employment for active union members while earning pension income for retired workers.

Washington Capital Management Corporation (WCMC) manages the funds for several different unions including Operating Engineers, Carpenters, Electricians, Cement Masons and Plasterers, Laborers and Plumbers according to Cory Carlson, a WCMC spokesperson.

Construction is proceeding on schedule according to GLY site manager Jim Donaho. Completion of construction is expected by mid-June 2001 with occupancy in September. Forty-five workers are now employed on the site. The work force goes up as high as 250 as the work progresses.

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