By CLAYTON PARK

It was shortly after the turn of the century, most likely around 1903, according to current landlord Suzie Burke, that the building now known as the Red Door Alehouse Building in Fremont made its first move. It was moved again not long after that to accommodate the raising of the street level.

Burke, whose company, the Fremont Dock Co., acquired the building in 1987, is currently studying a plan to move the building yet a third time - again shortly after the turn of the century - the 21st century.

Burke recently spoke about what she has learned about the building's history and its first two moves.

"It was originally located down on the flats," where the Ship Canal is today, said Burke, adding that the building is thought to have been built around 1900, possibly a few years earlier. "They drug it out (of the mud flats) with a team of horses and rolled it over logs to the corner where it is today," on the northwest corner of N. 34th and Fremont Ave. N, said Burke.

The building was uprooted a second time shortly after its initial move, this time to make way for the City of Seattle's plan to raise the level of the street by about 30 feet, said Burke. She noted that old photos taken prior to the second move showed steps in front of the building that no longer exist.

"The second time, it was moved vertically in the area," said Burke.

When Burke's company acquired the building, it was known by locals as the Fremont Tavern Building, in reference to its longtime tenant - a bar that had earned a reputation as a biker hangout.

"Mike Peck (another prominent Fremont landowner) called and said 'Suzie, the Fremont Tavern is for sale!,'" recalled Burke. "I said that tavern is always for sale. He said 'no, not just the tavern, the building, too.'"

Furthermore, Peck told Burke, "We decided that YOU have to buy it!"

Burke, who had already purchase two smaller buildings on either side of the Fremont Tavern Building, saw this as her chance to either fix up or remove a rundown building that had become somewhat of an eyesore.

Upon acquiring the building, she chose the former option, spending a considerable amount of money to spruce up the building's exterior as well as $50,000 to fix up the interior. She also signed a new tenant to replace the Fremont Tavern, the decidedly more upscale Red Door Alehouse, which would be operated by Alfa Zinkevicius and two other partners. The three spent the better part of seven months supervising the refurbishing of the interior of the building that housed a pharmacy in its early years. It became a tavern in 1938.

When Burke took over the building in the '80s, the upstairs was being used by several artists, some of whom lived there, others who used it mainly for storage. One room was filled with cans of paint - a fire hazard that Burke promptly had removed.

Burke had the upstairs rooms renovated and converted into offices, which are now occupied by software developers, a fish business, an architect and a lawyer. In addition to the Red Door, the building also houses the Dubliner pub on the main floor.

In May, Burke inked a deal to lease the property for 60 years to a development company known as Security Properties Inc., dba Fremont Housing LLC. The developers want to build a new multi-story building on the site that would have retail on the ground level and residential units above it.

Fremont Housing has also assumed all the leases of the building's current tenants.

Burke plans to move the Red Door Building to a vacant lot she owns a block away, on the northwest corner of Evanston and N. 34th. "We've had engineers look at it ... and they said yes, indeed it is moveable and will in fact be more solid once moved," said Burke, who added that the operators of the Red Door have expressed an interest in moving with the building to its new location. "The Red Door would like to have as building of that character and would like to stay in the area," she said.

Burke noted that moving the Red Door Building is not likely to occur for at least another 18 to 24 months.