It’s past time to repair downtown Renton’s landmark Clock Tower

Here’s a variation of an old riddle: What time is it when the hour hand points to both 9 and 10:30?

None of the four faces of the clock had the correct time yesterday

Answer: Time to get your clock fixed!

Renton’s downtown landmark 4-sided clock, which sits on a tower on it’s own cozy “Clock Tower Plaza,” does not appear to have functioned correctly for years.  It appears to have run properly shortly after it was last moved in 2021, but sometime in the years since it quit keeping proper time.

And unlike most stopped clocks that are correct twice per day, the tower clock is never correct because all four of its faces are showing different times.

As Renton works to revitalize the downtown, it’s important to keep up with the basic maintenance.  And setting the tower clock, and repairing it as necessary, is one of these tasks.

While there is not a lot of information about this clock online, I remember it joining our downtown landscape as part of the Metro Interim Transit Hub in 1997.  Metro Transit had just been part of King County for a few years, and they were creating a hub and spoke system that would increase transit service between “transit hubs” in urban centers in King County.  Renton did not have a transit hub, so we agreed with Metro on a temporary hub on Burnett between South 2nd and South 3rd streets, with a permanent hub coming later.  Since Metro was paying for infrastructure in other cities, they agreed to pay for bus shelters, signage, and (if memory serves) I think this clock in Renton.  The clock was placed at the corner of South 2nd and Burnett, with a sign alluding to it an South 3rd and Burnett.

In the following years we completed a purchase of the former Mazda dealership at this location for about half a million dollars, and ultimately built the transit center with Metro’s help (for about $3 million),  the parking garage (for about $8 million), renovated the Mazda showroom into the Pavillion  (for about $2 million), and built/landscaped the Piazza park (for about $1-$2 million).  I think we moved the clock to its new location on South 3rd and Burnett when we built the parking garage.  The dollar amounts I’m quoting are approximate, from memory; they should be fairly accurate. Prices were obviously lower in 1997.

The clock was moved temporarily again in 2020-2021 to allow reconstruction and improvements in South Third Street.

After the clock was moved back to its current home, it kept time for a while.  In 2022, Renton spent $4500 on holiday lights just on this clock tower, recognizing its significance as a landmark.

Downtown merchants and visitors deserve to have the clock fixed.  Friends have told me they’ve reported the broken clock in the past, but I plan to add my personal report to “Renton Responds” to see if we can get the clock accurate again.   Hopefully the time has come to fix the clock.

Moving the clock back into its present position on South 3rd Street and Burnett in 2021.

In 1996, this sign at Burnett and South 3rd marked the entrance to the Burnett Ave Interim Transit Hub. A stylized version of the clock tower can be seen in purple in the center of the sign. The Mazda dealership can be seen behind the Metro bus. The prominent Mazda showroom was built in the early 1960s, and we tore it down to create the Piazza. Behind it on the far right one can see the east end of the older showroom, which was built in the 1940s with old-growth wood bowstring roof trusses; we kept that building and remodeled it into the Pavilion Event Center. (King County photo)

The top photo from 1997 in this post from “Rentonthenandnow” Instagram shows the clock tower in the distance at it’s South Second and Burnett location.

Renton’s clock tower as it appears today, at South 3rd and Burnett.

Holiday lighting of the clocktower cost $4,550 in 2022