Fenpro demolition underway to make way for new museum

The changes in Ballard continue this week as the Fenpro warehouse (at 2655 NW Market St) demolition gets underway.

The Fenpro building, that housed a variety of independent metalworkers, painters and artists, is coming down to make way for the new Nordic Heritage Museum.

According to KUOW, parts of the Fenpro building date back to the 1950s and the building once housed 120 employees that made windows for sky scrapers.

Many of the Fenpro tenants were upset to see the building, that has been such a fixture of the Market St landscape for so long, be demolished to make way for the new museum.

Nordic Heritage museum employee Woldseth Colbrese told KUOW that she could relate.

“We can totally understand the situation that they’re in,” Woldseth Colbrese told KUOW. “We’re in the exact same situation with the Seattle schools.”

The current Nordic Heritage Museum is housed in an old public school at 3014 NW 67th St and Seattle Public Schools has requested that the building be returned to them by summer next year.

The Nordic Heritage Museum used the news as an opportunity for growth and subsequently acquired the Fenpro site for their new location.

According to KUOW, $6.5 million more must be raised to pay for the new museum building.

The new, modern 57,875-sq. ft. museum, is set to open in 2018 and will include a refined layout and expanded exhibition and educational spaces to compliment the myriad programs and events that Nordic Heritage Museum produces.

In addition to the core exhibition galleries, an auditorium, museum store, café, classrooms, and cultural resource center will be included in the new building.

The Nordic Heritage Museum celebrated their ground breaking ceremony on July 30.