Plans filed for Rainier Brewery

The owner of the old Rainier Brewery in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood has filed plans with the city to construct a new five-story building and a retail annex on the site, and residents praised the designs.

Earlier this month, Sabey Corp. held an open house for the community to display designs for the "Ice House," a name that plays off the history of the building that used to be there: the Stock House used to hold the ice-making operations of Rainier Ice & Cold Storage. The Stock House sank into the thawing earth when the ice-making stopped. The Ice House will be built on pilings to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Jim Harmon, Sabey's senior vice president of investments, says the company plans to use the old metal ice trays from the production plant for the awnings on the Ice House.

The rest of the structure will be brick and glass in an effort to complement the adjacent historic brick buildings that once made up the original Rainier Brewery — which in its heyday was the world's sixth-largest brewery.

The plans were filed with the Department of Planning and Development last week.

"Everybody in this neighborhood is so passionately attached to that brick building that they don't want to see anything but brick," said Georgetown resident Peter Reiquam. "It was pretty well-received, from everyone I've talked to in the neighborhood."

The city is reviewing the plans and accepting public comment during the next month.

According to Harmon, the Ice House would rise about 85 feet and provide some underground parking. Restaurants and stores would occupy the street level, and the four stories above would be offices. The design features three high brick arches on each side of the main entrance. The site plan also shows parking behind and to the north of the Ice House.

Sabey prefers to demolish the stump of the Stock House wall next to the Brew House, an existing building just north of the Ice House site. Some residents want the wall saved.

Like the rest of the old Rainier Brewery buildings, the wall is protected by the city's landmarks ordinance and Sabey would have to get permission from the Landmarks Preservation Board to destroy it. The board also has a say in the architectural details of the new design.

Harmon says the company is allowing for the "low probability" of putting up a building next to the Brew House, where the remaining Stock House wall stands now.

Reiquam says he's hopeful that the remaining piece of wall could be saved by building something behind it to support it.

"It's going to come down to money," Reiquam says.

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com