Abandoned 76 Station sign demolished | Corrected

On Tuesday, the 100-foot-tall sign at the abandoned 76 Station was taken down at the entrance to the city off SR522.

Mayor Mike Millman and the Woodinville City Council have been looking into ways to remove the sign and the abandoned gas station.

“It’s been sitting there for 15 years, and it’s just been deteriorating,” Millman said. “It was an eyesore.”

About a year and half ago, the city council looked into buying the property from the previous owner, but their offer was rejected.

They also considered trying to acquire the property through eminent domain. An attorney for the city said this wouldn’t work as the property likely did not meet the conditions for eminent domain, which would require the land to be developed for a necessary public use.

Eventually, Joe Razore, owner of McLendon Hardware next to the abandoned lot, bought the property after a study found that there were not dangerous amounts of hazardous materials in the ground.

After Razore acquired the property, he and Millman reached out to Roger Collins, CEO of Sierra Construction Company in Woodinville, who coordinated the sign’s demolition. The company was able to fully offset the cost of the demolition by selling the steel to be recycled.

The sign was originally constructed along with the gas station in 1969, but has been abandoned since the late 2000s, Millman said.

“[Removing the sign] has been something important to our community, our tourism … the aesthetics of Woodinville, what we’re trying to accomplish with the trestle and the Eastrail corridor,” Millman said. “This is our great welcome mat to Woodinville.”

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the City of Woodinville paid for the demolition.