The "Hotels" of Pioneer Square

This blog post was inspired by an overheard conversation. Overhearing things is my main source of inspiration lately, it seems! I was walking past The Arctic Hotel. A valet was talking to two tourists, who were asking him about how they could walk to Pioneer Square. The valet was telling the couple that all of the “historical stuff” was “down that way,” but he then very clearly told them NOT to walk down 3rd Avenue. “You don’t want to walk down 3rd, it’s bad down there. Lots of homeless people. Walk this way down to 1st, then turn left. All the historical things are there.”

Wait a minute… there’s history “down that way” too. Sure, if the tourists want a happy picture of Seattle, maybe they don’t want to see the front of The Morrison, the park by the courthouse, or the day centers and shelters that cluster around Pioneer Square. But The Arctic Hotel chose to renovate and to reopen as a hotel. They chose a neighborhood that has both warm fuzzy and heart-wrenchingly sad. Now that they’ve chosen it, why should they build a mental Berlin Wall between their patrons and the parts of Pioneer Square that they don’t like?

One of the things I love about Pioneer Square (love?) is that a hotel like Arctic Club Hotel (New York Times) can renovate and reopen, just a block away from another historical "hotel," The Morrison.

The Arctic Club Hotel was recently featured in The New York Times, partially due to its lovely renovations, and partially due to its "dashing back story." The Morrison, however, never been written about in The New York Times. New York has enough Morrisons of its own, I suppose. The Morrison also had some recent renovations, which were completed just a few years back and have been criticized as being too pricey.

But lets compare and contrast these two historical buildings, shall we? They ARE both historical buildings. They are both metaphorically and literally examples of the history of Pioneer Square.

The Arctic Club building was completed in 1917, and was designed by architect A. Warren Gould for The Arctic Club. Before then, the Arctic Club was housed at the nearby Morrison Hotel The Morrison was the site of The Arctic Club until 1917. Years later it evolved into a cheap boarding hotel. The SHA purchased the building in 1974, then reconstructed it in 1981 with funds from a senior housing bill. In 2005, the Seattle Housing Authority turned the building over to The Downtown Emergency Services Center, which began the amazing work of creating the social services hub that it is today.

In 2005, The Morrison's $28 million renovation was completed to create a social services center run by The Downtown Emergency Service Center. The Arctic Club's $30 million renovation was completed in 2008. It was renovated to once again become a hotel.

Right now, The Alaska Club Hotel has 120 guest rooms, which start at almost $300/night. The Morrison houses 190 small apartments, and the shelter serves up to 500/day.

What kind of amenities does $28-30 million get you? As the Alaska Club Hotel was recently reviewed in The New York Times: "Our handsome, spacious L-shaped rooms had two queen beds, maize-colored walls, an armoire with entertainment options (including a CD player, a flat-screen TV and an iSymphony dock), a dark trestle-table-style desk, and a clubby chair. For in-room coffee or tea, the hotel stocks each room with an electric kettle, a French press coffee maker and a tea infuser, and a pair of Arctic Club mugs. Theoretically there are also coffee (Starbucks, naturally) and Tazo teas, but on our second night ours had been forgotten. The local spin on turndown service was a nice touch, though: a packet of forget-me-not seeds (the state flower of Alaska) in place of chocolates.”

At The Morrison, they offer: “A hygiene and service center offer showers, toilets, washers and dryers, a day-and-night shelter, indoor meals and counseling services. During the day, the main shelter at The Morrison is a drop-in center where people can seek refuge from the streets and the weather, and access a wide variety of services, including hygiene facilities, mail and phone services and emergency clothing. The main shelter also offers on-site medical care, mental health counseling and chemical dependency treatment. Five DESC mental health case managers and a chemical dependency counselor are sited in the shelter, as are two mental health practitioners and a registered nurse from Health Care for the Homeless. Also, in coordination with University of Washington Family Medicine, the Community Health Advancement Program operates a bi-weekly dermatology clinic. (From the DESC web site.)

While The NYT loves the “Juno, the hotel restaurant, which offers fare like halibut with heirloom tomato in a basil lemon sauce ($26 or $19 depending on serving size) or Walla Walla panzanella salad ($8).” They complain that “no room-service menu could be found in our room.” Alas. Down the street at The Morrison, they offer free warm meals and a safe place indoors to eat.

The Arctic Club Hotel has “free wi-fi and internet in lobby and rooms.” The Morrison offers free computer training through Connections; participants can use a computer to write resumes, apply for jobs, or learn new skills. Also free.

DESC has an annual operating budget of around $16.5 million. That covers not just The Morrison, but all of their other programs as well. I’m sure that doesn’t include very many $26 dinners, however.

By the way, The DESC currently has a holiday program advertised on their web site. For $75, you can put together 12 holiday gift packs to bring by and help make someone’s holiday better. (This will likely be the only gift that many of these people receive.) But hey, for that $75 you could also get 3 meals at The Juno. If you drink water and pass on the appetizers. It’s all about priorities, I suppose.

More information:
Historical site information on The Morrison Hotel.
The Seattle Times
The Seattle Weekly