Seattle Quick Facts
- Venue: Seattle Convention Center — Arch & Summit
- ~1M sq ft usable · 450K+ sq ft exhibition
- Labor: Washington union (coordinated via GC)
- Freight from Las Vegas: 2–3 days
- Airport: Sea-Tac (SEA) via Link 1 Line to Westlake
- Note: city sales tax runs over 10%
Two Buildings: Arch & Summit
Seattle is unusual: its convention center is two separate downtown buildings. Arch, the original, straddles Interstate 5 along Pike Street and connects to Freeway Park, with about 236,700 square feet of exhibition on its fourth floor split into two halls joined by a 90-foot skybridge. Summit, opened in 2023 one block northeast, adds roughly 574,000 square feet of exhibition and meeting space with a subterranean hall and an 18-bay loading dock. Together they run close to a million square feet of usable space — but they are not interchangeable, and the first thing we lock is which building your show is in.
Which Building Are You In?
It matters more here than almost anywhere. Arch's exhibit floor is elevated on the fourth level with truck ramps and 23 docks feeding it; Summit is a newer, differently-configured building a block away. Dock access, freight routing and move-in flow differ between them, so a plan built for one won't drop cleanly onto the other. We confirm the hall, then build the logistics around that building specifically.
Washington's Union Floor
Seattle runs on union jurisdictions coordinated through the show's general contractor — freight, install, dismantle and rigging fall under those trades. Our crews sequence the calls and carry the required COIs so a two-building downtown campus doesn't create two separate bottlenecks. We confirm drayage and labor before crating.
Freight to Downtown Seattle
From our Las Vegas warehouse it's about a 2–3 days run up to Seattle — a manageable West-Coast-corridor haul, shorter than a cross-country trip but longer than the Southern California runs. We build and inspect in Vegas and book to your building's move-in window, with buffer for the I-5 corridor.
What's Included
One fixed number covers all of it:
- 3D rendering, warehouse pre-build and inspection
- Graphics production and freight to the Arch or Summit building
- Union-coordinated install and dismantle
- EAC, COI, electrical orders and drayage
- Hanging-sign rigging coordination and a dedicated project manager
- AV specification, sourcing and on-site setup
What Drives the Seattle Number
A turnkey booth runs from $5,400 for a 10x10 to about $112,500 for a 50x50 island. Union labor and a moderate freight haul set the base, and one Seattle factor deserves a flag: the city's combined sales tax runs over 10% — among the highest in the country — and it touches show consumables, so we call out those lines explicitly in the quote rather than letting them surprise you.
PAX West & the Seattle Calendar
Seattle's biggest week is PAX West over Labor Day weekend — one of gaming's largest gatherings and a demo-heavy, high-energy floor — alongside Emerald City Comic Con and the Northwest Flower & Garden Show. For PAX especially, reserve 3–5 months out; late-summer crews and downtown hotels tighten quickly.
Getting to Pike Street
The Link light rail's 1 Line connects Sea-Tac International (SEA) directly to downtown, with Westlake station the closest stop to both buildings and King County Metro buses filling in the rest. For a booth team, that's a clean airport-to-floor transit line without renting cars in a dense downtown.
Seattle Pitfalls
- Planning for the wrong building — Arch and Summit are a block apart and configured differently
- Overlooking the 10%+ sales tax on consumables when budgeting
- Assuming your team can move freight or rig — those are union jurisdictions
- Booking late for PAX West, when Labor Day demand spikes across the city
Rent or Buy for Seattle?
With union labor and a two-building campus to navigate, renting keeps you flexible for one to three shows a year and lets us handle the building-specific execution each time. Ownership only pencils out at high volume with a fixed design and the capacity to store and re-freight it yourself.
Next Step
Pick a footprint above for Seattle pricing, or request a 3D rendering and full price within 24 hours — built in Las Vegas and delivered to your Arch or Summit move-in window.
