Commercial Locksmith in Seattle, WA

Seattle's commercial buildings and their doors

• Pioneer Square. After the June 6, 1889 fire destroyed 25 blocks of mostly wood buildings, the Seattle City Council required fire-resistant brick and stone construction. Pioneer Square still has late 19th-century brick and stone buildings, many in the Romanesque Revival style, and in 1970 it became the city's first preservation district. Doors set into old masonry openings can fall outside standard hardware sizes, so photos and measurements help before anything is ordered.
• Ballard Avenue. The landmark district, created in 1976, keeps modest commercial buildings from the 1890s through the 1940s, with retail on the ground floor and residences above. One building may have a shop entrance and a separate street door to the apartments above, each used by different people.
• Belltown. High-rise residential buildings stand alongside warehouses here. A ground-floor business in a mixed building may share entries, garage gates and service rooms with residents, so building management may control some of the keys.

Landmark approvals

Per the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, both Pioneer Square and Ballard Avenue require a Certificate of Approval before certain changes. On Ballard Avenue that covers any change to the outside of a building, plus interior work that affects the exterior. Rekeying a cylinder or adjusting a door closer leaves the outside of the building as it was; a new storefront door or an exterior keypad changes it, so check with the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods before ordering one. This is general information, not legal advice.

Employee turnover and keys

• When an employee leaves without returning keys, rekeying the doors they could open retires those copies.
• A master key system lets managers open every door while employee keys open only their own areas. It works only with a written record of who holds which key.
• When a storefront changes tenants, the landlord and the incoming business should agree on who rekeys the doors and who holds the master key.

Details for a commercial request

Give the building name or address area and nearest cross streets, the number and type of doors (glass storefront, wood, metal or roll-up), whether the building is in Pioneer Square or on Ballard Avenue, and who manages it. For a building outside those districts, name the neighborhood; Seattle has several distinct commercial areas.