Third Bellevue crane found to have flaw

A 225-foot tower crane in downtown Bellevue was being repaired with welding torches Tuesday night after a 2-foot "hairline" crack was found near the top of the tower.

It is the third tower crane in downtown Bellevue to have structural problems in the past couple of weeks.

The crack was so thin that it could only be seen from about a foot away, and no one ever was in any danger, according to Skanska USA Building, the New Jersey-based site contractor. The crane, at The Bravern construction site, was shut down after the crack was discovered Sunday, though other work continued on site and the crane may be operating again today.

"We determined the crane was safe and took every precaution," Tony Stewart, a Skanska vice president, said Tuesday.

The crack was discovered about two weeks after a 210-foot crane collapsed at Tower 333, a 20-story office building at Northeast Fourth Street and 108th Avenue Northeast. The toppled crane killed a 31-year-old man in his apartment and damaged three buildings.

Saturday, workers dismantled a 300-foot crane at the 1020 Tower site, 1020 108th Ave. N.E., where construction started this year on a 20-story building with 200 apartments. Several large cracks were found in the lower portion of the tower.

The latest incident happened at the biggest construction site in the city and at one of Bellevue's busiest intersections.

Construction began in May on The Bravern, with 745,000 square feet of office space, 300,000 square feet of upscale retail and seven floors of underground parking. The first phase of the project, at Northeast Eighth Street and 112th Avenue Northeast, is set to open in 2008.

The state Department of Labor and Industries advised all crane contractors to look for structural problems after the Nov. 16 collapse of the first crane.

On Monday, the state said the cracks in the dismantled 1020 Tower crane were probably caused by water that froze and expanded in last week's cold weather — and that contractors should check for ice and water damage.

In Washington, state officials don't inspect construction cranes and inspections are left to the contractors or operators.

In response to the state advisory calling for inspections after the crane collapse, Skanska hired a special inspector from the crane's owner, Morrow Equipment of Salem, Ore., who stood in a hanging platform and examined the hard-to-reach outer sections of the crane tower.

Skanska's crane operators only examine the crane from the tower's inner stairway, and without the special inspection, which the contractor will now perform monthly, the hairline crack wouldn't have been found, Stewart said.

Contractors around the state are checking their cranes more closely than ever before, though they aren't required to tell the state if they find problems, state officials said. The Labor and Industries Department said it would like to be notified if problems are found.

The contractor at the site of the dismantled crane, Hanover Co. of Houston, disputed the state findings that freezing water caused the cracks. State officials also said that drain holes at the bottom of the crane were plugged, possibly with rust or debris, which allowed water to accumulate inside the crane.

Scott Lee, a Hanover regional project executive, said the state doesn't have data to back up its assertions and that the cracked crane didn't even have drain holes. The company is investigating and will release its findings by early next week, he said.

Labor and Industries officials stand by their assertion that freezing water was the most likely cause of the cracks, which they said would be true with or without drain holes, but their final report is still a few weeks away, department spokeswoman Elaine Fischer said.

Three contractors with tower cranes in downtown Bellevue said Tuesday that their cranes were inspected after the initial crane collapse and no cracks were found.

"It's pretty unusual" to see cracks, said Tom Peterson, a general manager at Hoffman Construction, which is building Bellevue Towers.

Several crane experts said last week that they had never seen cracks on a crane.

Stewart, from Skanska, said he'd also never seen cracks on his company's cranes until Sunday. Like the cranes in the two previous incidents, the crane at the Bravern was built by the Liebherr Group, a Swiss company, and erected by Northwest Tower Crane Service, based in Tukwila.

Those companies, along with Morrow, are investigating the cause of the most recent crack. The crane will be put back into use after it's been inspected and recertified, Stewart said.

Skanska is looking at water damage and metal fatigue among many possible causes and should know the answer sometime next week.

Staff reporters Peyton Whitely and Sonia Krishnan contributed to this report. Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com