Columbia Center

Under construction in late 1983

Martin Selig, a local real estate developer who had recently opened the Fourth and Blanchard Building, announced plans for a 75-story office building at 4th Avenue and Columbia Street in October 1980. The $120 million project, named the "Columbia Center", would be funded by the Seafirst Mortgage Company and constructed by Howard S. Wright.[15][16] Selig borrowed $205 million in 1981 to develop the property.[13] The Columbia Seafirst Center, as it came to be known, was constructed by Howard S. Wright starting in 1982 with a 120-foot (37 m) deep excavation hole that required 225,000 cubic yards (172,000 m³) of dirt and soil to be removed. This was one of the largest foundations for a building in Seattle along with concrete footings extending 134 feet (41 m) below street level. While the structural steel of the building was built at a rate of 2 floors per week, the building itself was completed on January 12, 1985,[10] and opened on March 2 of that same year.[9] U.S. Steel Corporation was contracted to provide 16,000 short tons (15,000 t) of steel for construction.[17] It was approximately 50% taller than the previous tallest skyscraper in Seattle, the 630-foot (190 m) Seattle First National Bank Building (now Safeco Plaza) that opened in 1969.

The Columbia Center (then Columbia Seafirst Center) under construction circa 1983.

Selig continued to own and manage the building until 1989 when financial problems forced him to sell it to Seafirst Corporation for $354 million.[18] Management was taken over by the Tishman West Company of Los Angeles.[19]

Controversy regarding the skyscraper's size contributed to the passage of a 1989 law called the Citizen's Alternative Plan (CAP) that enforced more stringent restrictions on the size of buildings in Downtown Seattle.[20] In 1990, after rejecting earlier plans for 300-foot (91 m) antennas,[21] Seattle and the FAA granted permission to erect two 192-foot (59 m) antennas on top of Columbia Center, which were expected to be used for broadcasting radio and television throughout the region.[22] Though the FAA was originally worried about the tower's height encroaching the airspace, they deemed the addition of the antennas not problematic.[22] The antennas were not built before the permits expired in 1994, however.[23]

EQ Office bought Columbia Center from Seafirst in 1998 for $404 million.[24] The New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a 49.9% stake in the building and then several years later sold its share back to EQ Office.[25][26] In 2007, Columbia Center was sold by EQ Office to Boston-based Beacon Capital Partners for $621 million;[27] Beacon later defaulted on a loan in 2010, the height of the Great Recession, at a time when vacancies reached 40%.[28] On August 7, 2015, Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners purchased the building for $711 million.[29][30]

On July 1, 2013, the Columbia Center's observation deck, known as the Sky View, was remodeled from 270 degrees to a 360-degree viewing area.[31] The observation deck underwent further renovations in 2018, adding two express elevators and a new lounge. The 4th Avenue entrance was also renovated.[32]

On June 16, 2004, the 9/11 Commission reported that the original plan for the September 11 attacks called for the hijacking of 10 planes, to be crashed into targets including the "tallest buildings in California and Washington state," which would have been the Columbia Center and the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles.[33] However, the attacks occurred in Washington, D.C., New York City and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, respectively, instead.