Historic Seattle’s Annual Preservation Celebration is coming up on September 25, 2025. We’ll celebrate the projects and people that help amplify our mission. Today, we feature The Satterberg Foundation for The Metropole Building, the 2025 Community Investment Award recipient.
Congratulations to The Satterberg Foundation!
The Metropole Building (423 2nd Ave Ext S.) sits on an odd-shaped lot at the corner of Yesler Way and the diagonal 2nd Ave Ext S., across from Smith Tower. Constructed in 1892, it is a simple Richardsonian Romanesque building with an unusual trapezoidal shape, commonly known as a flatiron building.
Over the years, the building housed many different tenants, including the G.O. Guy Drug Store, the Busy Bee Café and hotel guests, but time and disaster took their toll. Earthquakes in 1949, 1965, and 2001, followed by a devastating fire in 2007, left the iconic building vacant, boarded up and in disrepair.
In 2019, the Satterberg Foundation stepped in. Listening to nonprofit partners being priced out of Seattle, the Foundation purchased the Metropole with a bold vision: to create affordable, energy efficient office and community space for organizations led by and serving communities of color. As such the project would meet community needs and further the Foundation’s commitment to promoting a just society and a sustainable environment – a perfect match.
What followed was a six-year journey of design and construction—an ambitious adaptive reuse project that fused historic preservation with environmental innovation. Highlights include:
- Restoration of the original heavy timber structure, cast iron columns, Tenino sandstone, brick masonry, and colored glass, and seismic reinforcement
- Reconstruction of the missing cornice and two upper floors lost in the 1949 earthquake
- Reconstruction of the historic sidewalk structure along 2nd Ave Ext S. including the missing original prism glass skylights designed to illuminate the areaways below
- Conversion of the unused space below the sidewalk along 2nd Ave Ext S. to conditioned interior space,
- LEED Platinum certification, with an Energy Use Index of just 18—making it one of Seattle’s most energy-efficient buildings
Today, the Metropole is more than a building—it’s a vibrant hub for equity, art, and community – a perfect expression of the Foundation’s mission.
Current tenants: Seattle Black Panther Party Legacy Group & Interpretive Center, Chief Seattle Club, Families of Color Seattle, Na’ah Illahee Fund, Satterberg Foundation, Seed of Life, Center for Early Learning & Preschool, Inc., Spark Northwest, Social Justice Fund Northwest.
Historic Seattle proudly honors the Satterberg Foundation and the talented project team for breathing life back into the Metropole. A meaningful place was saved—and a thriving community was born.
BuildingWork, WG Clark Construction, Swenson Say Faget, LPD Engineering, Karen Kiest | Landscape Architects , Ecotope, TFWB Engineers, RDH Building Science, Speweik Preservation, Finishing Touch Masonry, Dark Light Design, SSA Acoustics, O’Brien 360.
Photo by Doug Walker