‘We’re glad the bus is finally gone:' Crews remove metro bus from skate park building after last week’s crash

Bus that crashed into indoor skate park was removed

A bus that crashed into an indoor skate park has been removed several days later. The non-profit that uses the skate park is still looking for a new location.

SEATTLE - The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) removed a King Country Metro bus Thursday that crashed into an indoor skate park last week in Seattle.

"I feel good," said the building’s owner, Matt Mohr. "To be honest, it was so frustrating to have it here for so many days and now something is finally happening."

The bus crashed into the warehouse owned by Mohr, who leased the space out to the non-profit, Skate Like A Girl, on Jan. 24. According to the Seattle Police Department (SPD), officers responded to the crash in the 1600 block of South Jackson Street around 6 p.m.

A week later, Metro officials said they had been communicating with the building’s owner to coordinate the safe removal of the bus from the property.

Mohr told FOX 13 there had been concerns about the building's structural integrity. Officials agreed.

"We had to get the building shored up," said Mohr. "So, we had to get engineering plans and then we’ve got lawyers and insurance companies to deal with, so things take time."

"There was a beam added just in case it was needed because the initial collision was fairly close to a beam, and you’re seeing the trolley wires up above that had to be de-electrified just in case," said Sean Hawks, the communications manager for King County Metro.

Metro officials also said they would be conducting an engineering assessment while making temporary repairs to the building.

All of this has displaced the skateboarding non-profit.

"We’re glad that the bus is finally gone," said Skate Like a Girl’s executive director, Kristin Ebeling. "We’re still looking for a new space."

The warehouse on Jackson Street served as a temporary space for the organization. While the building’s owner said he would love to reopen the building to the organization, he just doesn’t feel it’s safe.

"I don’t know that that can happen yet," said Mohr. "We’re waiting on engineer reports and everything again. So, we’ll see what happens.