This article originally appeared in the June 4, 2021 edition of This Week in Renton.
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Cortona Building wins state preservation award
The Cortona Building downtown has been awarded a State Historic Preservation Officer Valerie Sivinski Award for Outstanding Rehabilitation.
Many of you remember the building as the home of F.W. Woolworth Company from its construction in 1954. It later housed the Bonanza 98 Cent Store and Renton Western Wear.
The Cortona LLC group, headed by Dave and Monica Brethauser, bought the building in 2015 and restored its mid-century modern features and status as the centerpiece of the downtown retail core. Today it is home to five entrepreneurial businesses: Boon Boona Coffee, Urban Sprouts, The Pencil Test, and Ascendance Dance Studio. Upstairs is the Mind Share Work Lounge featuring rentable offices and meeting space for entrepreneurs.
The Sivinski Award is the second for Cortona LLC on the project. In 2016, they were awarded the John D. Spellman Award for Historic Preservation by King County. The Cortona Building is on the Washington Heritage Register, the state's official listing of historically significant sites and properties.