Start with the missing document, not a general “closed” label. Save the SEA Airport tenant or project name, terminal or space, approximate work period, and any known Port or Airport Building Department reference. Ask what existing document the folder’s “closed” note actually identifies; copy its title and date if shown. If the title is missing, state that uncertainty. Read a certificate of occupancy for its own issuer and covered space rather than assuming it names every Port-held item.
The Port Public Records page routes non-police requests through account-required NextRequest, links prior releases, and gives Public Disclosure at 206-787-5652. The page does not promise that a particular older technical record exists or will be released.
Use the dated guide as a record map
The current Port tenant reference index links a July 15, 2021 Quick Start. It identifies SEA’s Airport Building Department (ABD) as its own authority having jurisdiction and describes project-manager e-Permit handling. This 2021 guide supplies record labels; verify current procedure, code, timeline, portal, and project boundaries with the Port.
That guide names Port punch-list/open items, applicable inspections by ABD, Port of Seattle Fire Department, or Labor & Industries, acceptance and a final certificate of occupancy, and record drawings to the project manager. It does not establish a universal tenant closeout certificate.
Make the request answerable without a property search
Use a short note built from papers already held: tenant and airport space, work description and period, any printed application or permit reference, and the title or date of the apparent gap. Label uncertain identifiers as uncertain. These are request clues. The Port’s public pages do not describe an address or APN search for tenant construction records, an online coverage year or a retention period.
A useful request can say: “For [tenant or project] in [airport space] during [date range], please provide the existing document referenced as [title or notation] in [known file], including the version tied to [known reference].” Fill those brackets only from papers in hand. If no title appears, describe the notation instead. Keep a no-record or referral response separate from a copy of the document.
- Name the gap: Copy the actual missing document title from a dated reference if one is printed. If the packet says only “closeout,” mark the title unknown and ask which existing item that note identifies, not for a newly written summary.
- Match the version: If pages conflict on revision date, identify each page and ask which version a response covers. A later page in one folder does not establish what another office reviewed.
- Keep custody distinct: Record the author and recipient printed on each paper; preserve both when they differ. One office’s file does not identify another office’s decision.
- Report the access limit: If a note says only “complete,” say so. Do not describe an untested e-Permit screen as an online no-result.
If a partial file contains a dated decision and undated notes, sort them by title, issuer, space, reference, revision, and date. When a note mentions an attachment absent from the packet, ask for that named item or the responsive file. If its title is not stated, describe the note and ask what existing record it refers to. Do not assume the attachment exists or that the work failed merely because the packet is incomplete.
Pick the right Port request route before you write
The Port of Seattle describes itself as a special-purpose municipal corporation serving King County, and it handles requests under the Washington Public Records Act, chapter 42.56 RCW. Its records page offers three separate request routes, and choosing the wrong one costs time:
- General Port records: the route for SEA tenant construction, Airport Building Department and closeout documents.
- Port of Seattle Police records: a separate online system, only for police records.
- Northwest Seaport Alliance records: for marine cargo terminal matters, not airport tenant space.
Because the Public Records Act covers records in any format, a request can name an email transmittal, a punch-list spreadsheet or a scanned drawing as readily as a signed certificate. Name the format if you know it. The act also exempts some records from disclosure, so a partial release with redactions is a possible answer; record what was withheld and the exemption cited rather than treating the gap as a missing document.
Keep the issuer attached to its paper
Use the issuer named on the paper rather than routing by a Seattle-area mailing address. The SEA utility-connection guide answers a different question about Port system review and connection points. The building-permit record guide helps keep permits, individual inspections, and final outcomes distinct. Neither substitutes for the specific tenant closeout document.
One document does not prove the entire project was approved, that every affected space had occupancy authorization, or its present condition. A missing item remains a record-access gap until the issuer’s file connects the references.
Port of Seattle tenant reference index, public records page and the linked 2021 guide checked October 20, 2026.