The city has given the owners of the abandoned building in the 600 block of Park Avenue North a deadline to put an “upscalable” fence to secure the property, according to Renton Mayor Armondo Pavone.

Residents of the North Renton neighborhood have expressed frustration at the city’s handling of the former Boeing 10-16 building, located at 535 Garden Avenue N. (the building is often referred to being on Park Avenue even though the address is on Garden Avenue). They have said the building is a hot spot for crime and drugs and is an endangerment to the community. Pavone provided an update to North Renton residents building at a “Talks on the Block” in the neighborhood on Sept. 2.

Pavone responded to a question about the building by explaining two choices the city had to deal with the building. One option was to take the owner of the building, ION Renton LLC, to court to take possession of the property. Pavone said, at first, he was willing to spend the money to acquire the building and tear it down.

“The brakes got pumped when we found out there is actually contaminated soil underneath it,” Pavone said. “So the problem is, without knowing what level that contamination is, if we take responsibility of that, even through legal action, we are now partially responsible for cleanup.”

Pavone said site cleanup had the potential to cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars and he wasn’t willing to risk tax dollars. Instead they took the path to try to come to an agreement with the owners to demolish the building.

In January 2025, the Renton Reporter reported the city had issued a demolition permit and was waiting for the owners to pick up the permit. Pavone said the clock started when they didn’t pick up their permit when it was ready.

“For over a year, this company was in the process of getting a permit to demo it and so we were, in good faith, not fining them because we don’t normally fine businesses that in good faith are going to be building in Renton,” Pavone said.

Pavone said six months ago, the city changed the way they were fining the owners from a “blanket fine” to fining the owners more liberally to get a response.

“Now, every broken window is a fine. Everything they do that is not appropriate is a fine. Their fines are over $3 million,” Pavone said.

This resulted in the owners coming to the city to negotiate a corrective action to start demolition and either install an “unscalable” fence around the property or hire 24/7 security to keep people out of the building.

“They started the cleanup process. What they haven’t done is the fence or the security,” Pavone said.

Pavone said they are about two weeks away from taking legal action if the demands are not met. If it comes to that, they will install a fence to secure the facility in “a timely fashion.” Pavone said they do know the owners are talking to the contractor about putting up a fence and they are hopeful they will fulfill that obligation.

“Our constitution is founded around the idea of personal property,” Pavone said. “It’s very difficult for the government to tell you what to do and take your property away, and rightfully so.”

Pavone said the property is still desirable to developers, who deal with contaminated ground all the time.