Pike Place Market staircase reopens after renovation

The steep stairs from Western Avenue to the Pike Place Market reopened Friday after being closed 14 months for renovation.

It was part of the first phase of ongoing renovation work at the historic Market. It cost $20 million; the entire renovation will be $69 million.

Crews excavated the Western Avenue Hillclimb and built an underground plant that houses an electrical vault. The staircase on the Hillclimb was redesigned and rebuilt, and a new elevator was added.

The next phase of the Market's renovation project begins next week, and visitors will see a three-story tower of scaffolding at Pike Place between the Corner Market and the Triangle Building. The scaffolding will be used to move equipment in and out of the Sanitary Market building as workers begin updating the building's apartments.

Major seismic upgrades also will be done. About 30 commercial tenants will be relocated during the work.

"We are working diligently with these tenants to try and keep them here in the Market during Phase II, and in operation. That is our goal," said James Haydu, with the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority. "But there is no way to escape the fact that renovation is now moving into our living room — and soon."

Phase II work is expected to last a year.