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Clise Properties has taken its 13-acres in Denny Triangle off the market due to the global credit market downturn. Clise received 15 offers and conducted 60 tours with the most serious offer coming from a Dubai-based real estate development company.
Clise is expected to put the properties back on the market once the financial markets improve.
More info: SeattlePI and Seattle Times
If you’ve been by the Space Needle recently you’ll have noticed a hub of construction activity along Denny Way near Aurora. Currently, four projects are under way including two apartments, a hotel/apartment complex and a new condominium.
The Marselle Condominium, at 115 Aurora Ave, is the latest addition to the burgeoning area just north of downtown. The 7-story frame-constructed building will encompass 132 condominium homes ranging from 347 sq ft to 1,730 sq ft. Penthouse level homes will include a mezzanine level that opens to the roof top decks.
Every unit will come with parking and storage. Common building amenities include roof top decks with views of Lake Union & downtown, a billiard room, a resident lounge and a wellness center with cardio machines, weight training equipment and yoga space.
When originally conceived, the project at 6th & Denny where Greg’s Japanese Auto used to be was going to be the newest addition to the hotel & condo hybrids popping up in the city. Instead, work is now progressing on a hotel & apartment project. The developer has opted to switch to apartments given the current condo market conditions.
The 160-room hotel and 56-unit apartment will have separate lobby entrances, elevators and amenities, but will share a common wall. The building is being constructed to condominium quality, opening the door for a future conversion. The switch to apartments will keep 56 units out of the condo inventory for now. The project joins the Taylor 28 and Borealis Apartments, both under construction within a 2 block radius.
Gallery Belltown
Buyers speak with their pocketbooks. And, apparently buyers spoke loudly at Belltown’s Gallery Condominium project. When the Gallery project first came online it was touting its SkyLofts concept, true two-level loft homes with 18′ ceiling heights located on the upper floors that offered spectacular city and sound views. But, it seems buyers just weren’t ponying up the big bucks for these units and most of them are now history, replaced with 600 sq ft one-bedroom flats.
Stewart | Minor
The lack of loft living enthusiasts at Gallery hasn’t deterred the developers of the Stewart | Minor high-rise loft project in Denny Triangle. But, Stewart | Minor is somewhat unique. The concept is based on 600 sq ft cube units that’ll offer owners the opportunity to add a mezzanine/loft level, increasing livable space by nearly 50%. The homes feature 18′ ceiling heights that’ll provide ample head room on the mezzanine level, which buyers can add at the time of purchase or at a later date.
The idea behind these convertible homes is Move Up or Move Out. The most common reason people move is because they’ve outgrown their current space. When considering the cost of moving (selling costs, moving costs, time, etc) an average person might spend around $40,000. Stewart | Minor offers the option to finish the mezzanine level for about the same price. Though, to built-out the upper level fully (sleeping area, master bath and closet) may cost up to $100,000.
Unlike Gallery, Stewart | Minor is striving to offer a more affordable price point (starting at $400,000) and has been gaging interests and opinions through a series of design preview events. Construction is expected to begin late 2008/early 2009 with pre-sales beginning next Spring/Summer and occupancy in 2011.
1 Hotel & Residences
The Seattle Times report that New York-based Equinox Fitness will occupy 35,000 square feet of space at 1 Hotel & Residences. Equinox is an upscale fitness center known for its celebrity clientele. Monthly dues will likely start around $130, a premium compared to dues at nearby gyms. The gym, as well as the 5,000 square foot spa managed by Equinox, will occupy the 7th & 8th floors.
The old Teatro Zinzanni block between 5th & 6th Avenues and Battery & Bell has been sold to Embassy Development of Vancouver, BC. Though this isn’t exactly earth shattering news, it does express a commitment by Embassy to develop the site.
The proposed development, called Insignia Towers Condominium (website), is big – encompassing two 41-story condominium towers with 643 units. Construction on the first tower is expected to begin next spring with a 2010 completion date. The second tower is expected to start around spring 2009. Each tower will have a lengthy construction timeline – 29 months.
Interesting quote from the developer in the DJC: “Most of the condos will be two-bedroom or two-bedroom with dens. Prices in the first tower will start at $750 a square foot, and are intended to be affordable to downtown workers making a ‘decent wage.’ “
Since when is $750/sf considered affordable. What exactly is a decent wage for downtown workers?
Over the next few years Seattle’s “Midtown” district may experience a spate of new construction activity from several new high-rise developments under proposal. Midtown is roughly the area where Denny Triangle, Belltown and the Retail District converge. One of the projects in particular will provide a refreshing change to Seattle’s skyline.
Denny Way has become a hotbed of construction activity with no less than eight residential projects currently under development. These projects will dramatically re-invent the SLU, Denny Triangle & lower Queen Anne landscape.
Four of these are located within blocks of each other near Denny Way & Aurora Avenue. Of the four, two are expected to be apartments with the other two being condominiums.
Hyatt Place Hotel & Condominium (600 Denny)
Update 2/08: This project will be developed as a hotel/apartment complex consisting of two buildings. One building will be a 56-unit apartment (6th & Denny Apartments) and the other will be the Hyatt Place Hotel.
Located to the West of Starbucks at the old Greg’s Japanese Auto site is the 9-story 160-room Hyatt Place Hotel that will also include 56 condominium homes. The project is being developed by Kauri.
Image courtesy of Johnson Braund Design Group.
Borealis Apartments
Borealis (website) is well underway at Denny & Aurora. This green built Vulcan project will feature 53 apartment units, 50 of which will be priced for residents earning 80% of median income. The building was designed by Runberg Architecture.
The Lexas Companies has proposed a large two-building residential project at the edge of Denny Triangle at 1200 Stewart Street. The plan calls for two 36-story towers with 500 residential units, 55,000 square feet of commercial/retail space and 800 below-grade parking stalls. The developer has not yet determined whether the project will be built as apartments or condos.
An early design guidance meeting has been scheduled for September 25th at 5:30 PM at Seattle City Hall, room L280.
Lexas Companies is currently developing the upscale Escala condominium project at 4th & Virginia. The architect for the project is Thoryk Architecture who designed Escala.
Across the street from 2200 Westlake is a proposal for a 400 feet tall residential tower at the SE corner of 9th & Lenora. The parcel is currently occupied by the Social Security Administration. For a comparison, the recently completed Cosmopolitan is 330 feet tall.
A 400 foot tower would be massive in that area of Denny Triangle which is primarily composed of low and mid-rise buildings. Though, it will go a long way towards revitalizing the district with new housing, business and retail opportunities.
Laconia Development (fomerly Levin Menzies) received city-approval for the master-use permit of its 29 32-story ICON Tower. Designed by Weber+Thompson and Vancouver, BC – based engineering firm Glotman Simpson, the slender tower sits on a triangular 10,665 square foot parcel at Denny Way, Wall Street & 6th Avenue. Construction is slated to begin in early 2008.
“Making the structural and parking systems work effectively and finding ways to add saleable area to the project to offset the extra costs were the most challenging aspects,” said Blaine Weber, who leads his firm’s Urban Projects/High-Rise Team, which is designing 12 high-rise towers in Seattle.
Dan Foltz, principal of Weber+Thompson explained that the project could not, for instance, rely on a traditional shear-core structural solution. In lieu of a shear core, an outrigger structural system provides lateral resistance while avoiding a perimeter moment frame. In addition, some mechanical parking helps offset the inefficiencies of the site.
ICON will have punched decks between the various juxtaposed forms, and pre-cast concrete architectural frame features will break the mass of each facade into more slender vertical and smaller-scaled elements, Foltz explained. The top of ICON will have a generous roof-top garden deck as well as a sculptural, iconic element that will allude to the Space Needle. This halo, which will be lit at night, is intended to be a beacon.
ICON will feature 224 283 “homespaces” ranging in size from 570 to 1,400 sq ft. The average “homespace” will be about 900 sq ft. No word yet on pricing or pre-sales, but we’ll do a review once marketing begins and information about home designs are made available.
Renderings courtesy of Weber + Thompson
