ksmith: (duct tape)
ksmith ([personal profile] ksmith) wrote2008-09-25 09:58 pm
Entry tags:

Timeliness

So, several chapters ago, I decided to use the Washington Mutual Building as the location of an office which my protag visits.

Tonight, the Feds seized WaMu. It's the largest bank failure in US history.

I wonder if the building will be sold, and the name changed.

[identity profile] michaeldthomas.livejournal.com 2008-09-26 12:52 pm (UTC)(link)
I would guess that it will become a Chase bank.

I think that Chase should do another one of those WaMu "banker's pen" commercials, one where the WaMu guy admits he's broke and the old stodgy banks fix everything while he collapses in tears onto the floor.

I really hated those commercials, and I need this kind of closure.

(Anonymous) 2008-09-26 01:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Gulp! Ummm. It doesn't matter because you're writing an alternate reality?

Adrianne - Sigh. WaMu held my mortgage for a while. They were great.

[identity profile] kristine-smith.livejournal.com 2008-09-26 04:38 pm (UTC)(link)
I worked with someone who did get a home through WaMu, and wound up losing it--I believe it was a subprime, but I don't know for sure. The local WaMu office shut down not long after that, maybe a year ago? So they were pulling back even then.

[identity profile] chris-gerrib.livejournal.com 2008-09-26 01:45 pm (UTC)(link)
If you're talking about a back office building, it might be referred to as "the old WaMu building."

People in the Chicago loop still refer to the "Continental Illinois" building even though they went bust back in the 1980s. (Of course, it helps that the name is carved in stone on front.)

[identity profile] lmarley.livejournal.com 2008-09-26 02:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah. So YOU'RE the one who killed my bank! Thanks, honey. :-)

[identity profile] kristine-smith.livejournal.com 2008-09-26 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
My work here is done.

[identity profile] cmpriest.livejournal.com 2008-09-26 04:13 pm (UTC)(link)
According to my sources, within the next 2 years everything will be renamed to reflect the merger, but it won't happen immediately.

[identity profile] kristine-smith.livejournal.com 2008-09-26 04:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Is there another 'name' building in downtown Seattle that houses many types of businesses (in this case, legal)?

[identity profile] cmpriest.livejournal.com 2008-09-26 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Erm ... maybe The Columbia Center. It's mostly Amazon.com offices, but I think it hosts other things too.

Timeliness

(Anonymous) 2008-09-26 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
There are many attorneys' offices in the Columbia Tower. This building has over forty stories so it often has different weather conditions at the upper stories than at ground level

[identity profile] kristine-smith.livejournal.com 2008-09-26 09:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks--according to Yahoo, Columbia Center and Columbia Tower are interchangeable--is that true? It definitely looks to be what I need.

It's times like this that I wish I could step through the closet transporter. I last visited Seattle in ?2002?. Stayed at a downtown hotel for one evening and walked to a club to see Peter Murphy. I recall some of the look and feel, but a refresher wouldn't hurt.


It used to be the Bank of America building. Hah. All the bank buildings are going the way of Enron Field.

[identity profile] barbarienne.livejournal.com 2008-09-26 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Eh, I still call the large building that sits across Park Avenue "the Pan Am building."

[identity profile] scbutler.livejournal.com 2008-09-26 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Isn't that the name?