Seattle's Old Spaghetti Factory to close in December after 46 years



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After 46 years of brick-building-wrapped spaghetti and lasagna dinner fun, Seattle's Old Spaghetti Factory is set to close Dec. 23.

The restaurant's parent company, OSF International, announced the news Tuesday, more than a year after the building was sold for $9 million to two local development companies.

When the sale was first announced, there was some talk of keeping the restaurant open, but options to do that seem to have evaporated in the meantime.

"There had been initial conversations to that effect," said Ryan Durrett, director of marketing for OSF International. "The plans and the timing just didn't align."

Closing the store just before Christmas was picked to give the location "a final holiday season in Seattle," Durrett said.

Plans for the redevelopment included residential, retail and commercial, but as the building has a historical designation, it will retain much of its original canning factory character.

The Seattle Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant was only the second in the chain when it opened in 1970, just a year after the first opened in Portland. Today, the company operates 42 restaurants.

The 70 employees at the downtown restaurant will all be offered jobs at other stores, Durrett said.

For lovers of the O.S.F dining experience looking to keep the flame going, the company still has restaurants in Lynnwood, Tukwila and Tacoma, among other places more distant.