September 8, 2025
By Catherine Kunkel
As buildings seemingly spring up overnight and skylines change in the blink of an eye, the high-flying structures with arms that handle the heaviest lifting are powering that change. Cranes play a significant role in the engineering and construction of your favorite buildings. The massive, often towering, mechanical equipment hovering above buildings are signs of upgrades in progress, and that is no different at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).
The tower crane that hovered over the C Concourse is known as a Liebherr 630 EC-H 20, but to the crews working on the C Concourse Expansion project, that beloved crane was affectionately known as “Crane Griffey Jr.”
SEA recently bid farewell to our resident tower crane that was helping with work on a completely redeveloped C Concourse as part of Upgrade SEA’s C Concourse Expansion. The 225-foot-tall steel tower crane was erected in March 2024 to help raise and expand the existing building on the C Concourse, led by the project’s contractor, Turner Construction. It recently wrapped up its heavy lifting and was disassembled at the end of August 2025.
Crane Griffey Jr. was used to add four additional floors above the existing building which entailed:
- Assisting in demolition of a portion of the existing building
- Setting the steel building structure
- Installing exterior gypsum wallboard (GWB) and curtain wall glazing panels
- Adding solar array support steel
- Loading materials to complete the roofing
- Hoisting mechanical units to their final location, including escalators
- Installing a construction personnel elevator for access
- Delivering tons of supplies
John Watson, Turner Construction’s superintendent of the project, said C Concourse construction is running ahead of schedule and that they are “pausing to reflect on the integral role of the tower crane and acknowledge the crews’ progress thus far.”
Tower cranes: what are they exactly?
Tower cranes are a common sight at construction sites, especially for high-rise buildings. They feature a vertical mast, in this case 225 feet, and a horizontal jib (working arm) which in this case is 241 feet long. To maintain balance, counterweights are placed on a counter-jib, extending in the opposite direction of the main jib. These counterweights are usually made of concrete and can be adjusted based on the load and reach requirements.
Here are a few stats on Crane Griffey Jr. — the tower crane, not the baseball player — and its lifts, or as they say in the construction biz, “picks”:
- 2,197 picks of structural steel elements installed
- 1,473,296 pounds of steel installed
- 180 picks for exterior panel installation
- 471 picks for curtain wall glazing panel installation
According to Watson, there has not been a tower crane installed on the SEA airfield in more than 20 years. Its installation, operation, and disassembly all required precise and consistent communication and coordination between the construction crew and Port of Seattle staff. Safety was, of course, the number one goal. But at a busy airport like SEA, it was also important to not impact air traffic or other uses of the airfield. This coordination consisted of constant communication specifically focused on timing of materials not to overwhelm airfield routes with outside trucking. A dedicated logistics superintendent was assigned to review and approve all crane activity to accommodate the project needs and Port operations.
There are many other types of cranes like truck-mounted and all-terrain cranes, crawler cranes, reach-stacker cranes, and mobile cranes (keep reading to learn more about the mobile crane’s role in the disassembly).
How do you take a tower crane down?
Disassembling the tower crane is no small feat. Work took two days and two more cranes to help dismantle Crane Griffey Jr. A mobile crane, the GMK7550-550t Mega Wing, was brought in with a telescoping arm that extends out to take the larger crane apart and has a reach of up to 275 feet high. Another assist crane, NBT60 Assist Crane (Boom Truck), was on hand to provide assistance and has a max reach of 130 feet high. After that, parts were loaded into 14 semi-trucks and removed, requiring mind-boggling planning, logistics, and detailed schematics akin to performing a complex brain surgery.
In describing the disassembling plan, Watson said he loves this kind of work. He’s orchestrated many of these crane assembly and disassembly projects, as well as other large-scale construction projects. It’s not surprising when he said his propensity for unpacking complex processes began early when he spent hours playing with Lincoln logs as a child.
Fun tower crane facts
- The equipment is named a “crane” because it resembles the long neck of a real, live crane
- The tower crane horizontal jib (also known as the “boom”) is 241 feet long
- The vertical tower is 225 feet high and is made up of seven sections
- Load capacity is 44,000 pounds from the tower in “normal” configuration
- Load capacity in “heavy” configuration with multiple trolleys is 88,000 pounds
- Its counterweight weighs 113,490 pounds
- The crane’s cab is air conditioned and heated and measures 6 feet long, 5 feet wide and 6 feet tall
- The closest restroom for the cab operator is 125 feet or 210 ladder rungs down
What do crane operators do up there?
When someone at a party asks, “What do you do?” few people can answer how Mike Key can. His workdays are spent 225 feet in the air with amazing views. A veteran construction worker and crane operator for Turner Construction, Key said he loves his job working the controls for the lifting hook and manipulating cables from the cab. He also communicates with ground crew, known as the “riggers,” advising them how to rig or attach materials, as well as constantly looking for the clear and safe path to lift or swing the load.
Since he often can’t see what’s going on below, Key uses binoculars and relies on the ground crew, who take photos on their phones to show him how materials are rigged.
The most frequently asked question people have about his profession? “One hundred percent … Where do you go to the bathroom?” Key said, adding with a chuckle. “It takes planning and timing … When the porta potty is on the fifth floor, and that is 125 feet and 210 ladder rungs down, you have to time it right!”
Watson attests to Key’s good timing and ladder climbing speed. “He’s amazing … Mike can climb up and down the ladder unbelievably fast … I don’t know how he does it!”
The pace in the cab is usually busy and if not, Key often climbs down to assist the ground crew. If it’s not busy and he’s on a break, he sometimes stays on his perch, takes out his trusty acoustic guitar and strums some tunes to relax, clear his head, and take in his bird’s eye view. But now that SEA’s tower crane is gone, Key will find a new perch, with a new project, and a new, spectacular view.
Final fond memories of Crane Griffey Jr.
The teams made the most of the time with the tower crane at SEA. When the crane first arrived, to add a touch of fun and whimsy, the contract and project teams held a survey to choose a nickname. The top votes went to “Crane Griffey Jr.”, with “Sir Lifts A-Lot” coming in second, and “Captain Hook” and “Andrew Kingston”, the name of the senior project superintendent from Turner, tied for third.
Adding to the fun, the design and project staff built a toy crane to show the contrasting sizes of the model against the real equipment. The toy crane was also displayed at a Topping Out Ceremony in December 2024.
- Watch the: Topping Out Video
Finally, just before the tower crane came down, the Port Communications and other team members climbed the tower to the cab to check out the view and take some primo video and photos of the airfield. Luckily these folks aren’t afraid of heights!
“It isn’t every day you get to look down at your work building from a bird’s eye view!” said Claire Alexander, External Relations visual storyteller. “Climbing Crane Griffey Jr. was easier than I expected, but even with a strong stomach my advice would be to not look down until you are at the top!”
And with that, we bid a fond farewell to our beloved tower crane, Crane Griffey Jr. SEA Airport forges ahead with upgrades still in progress, but one step closer to bringing a lighter and brighter C Concourse, opening 2026!
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