The Seattle Condo Blog | Seattle Condos and Lofts

Here’s a few more notable land use activity for the Seattle area. These are mostly apartments but one may end up as a condo tower.

2116 4th Avenue – Belltown

The 40-story residential tower at 2116 4th Avenue has received conditional approval from the Seattle DPD. The proposed building is located next door to the Cinerama Theater and might be called Cinerama Tower.

The developer, HAL Real Estate Investments, is also moving forward on the Cameo project on Capitol Hill. A few of their previous condo projects include The Concord, One Pacific Tower, the Braeburn and the conversion the Site 17 and Newmark Tower buildings. So there is a possibility this building may end up as condos during the next construction cycle.

Joseph Arnold Lofts – Belltown

The design proposal for the Schuster Group’s Joseph Arnold Lofts is available at the Seattle DPD. While this project is being proposed as an apartment building, Schuster’s other Belltown project was the Mosler Lofts condominium.

Download the proposal (pdf)

2915 Rainier Ave S – South Seattle

An early design guidance meeting for a mixed-use 61-unit residential & commercial development in South Seattle. What makes this interesting is that it is being developed by Artspace, which has three live/work artist loft buildings in the Seattle area – Tashiro Kaplan Artist Lofts, Artspace Hiawatha Lofts and Artspace Everett Lofts.

The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 pm on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at Well Spring Family Services (1900 Rainier Ave S).

View the land use bulletin

100 Republican – Uptown / Lower Queen Anne

Demolition has begun at the lot for the 100 Republican apartment complex in Uptown (old QFC lot next to the Seattle Center). This is a massive low-rise building that’ll contain 275 units centered around a central courtyard.

and finally…

2428 NW Market St – Ballard

AMLI Residential, a corporate housing and luxury apartment company, is proposing to build a large 300-unit residential complex near the heart of Ballard at Market and 24th Ave NW. AMLI’s other Seattle area buildings include the AMLI 535 in South Lake Union and the AMLI Bellevue Park in Bellevue.

An early design guidance meeting has been scheduled for 6:30 pm on Monday, May 23, 2011 at the Ballard High School Library.

View the land use bulletin

A few notable land use bulletins came up recently which may be of interest to folks, including the resurrection of the Cameo project, a 27-story Belltown apartment tower and two new apartment developments in South Lake Union.

1527 15th Avenue (Capitol Hill)

The Cameo development on Capitol Hill is back on the table after a 3-year hiatus. The project was originally proposed as a sister condo development to the Braeburn across the street at 15th & Pine St. The current proposal, similar in design to the original, is a 6-story building with 56 residential units including 2 live/work units and retail space. The project is owned and being developed by HAL Real Estate Investments, whose residential portfolio includes both apartment and condominium buildings.

Design Review Board Meeting for the Cameo
     Date:   Wednesday, April 20, 2011
     Time:   8:00 pm
     Location:   Seattle University, Alumni Relations & Admissions Building, 824 12th Ave
     Design Proposal download (10 mb PDF); view bulletin

Rendering courtesy of Studio Meng Strazzara

2625 3rd Ave (Belltown) Note: Address changed to 225 Cedar Street

An early design guidance review meeting has been scheduled for the proposed 310-unit apartment building at 2625 3rd Ave 225 Cedar St, the adjacent property northeast of the Seattle Heights Condominium building. Interestingly, this project keeps growing from its initial 17-stories on the parcel where the American Lung Association building stood, to 20-stories, then 26-stories and now 27-stories, that when all phases are completed will encompass the whole 3rd Avenue half of the block.

I’ve heard there’s been strong opposition to the size of the project from residents at Seattle Heights. The project is being developed by Paragon Real Estate. Alto, an apartment tower currently under construction, is located across 3rd Avenue from this site.

Design Review Board Meeting for 2625 3rd Ave
     Date:   Tuesday, April 12, 2011
     Time:   5:30 pm
     Location:   Seattle City Hall, Boards and Commission Room L280
     Design Proposal from February download (15 mb PDF); view bulletin

Rendering courtesy of Hewitt Architects

Joseph Arnold Lofts (Belltown)

A design review board meeting as been scheduled for the Joseph Arnold Lofts apartment development in Belltown. To be developed by the Schuster Group who built Mosler Lofts, The Joseph Arnold Lofts is planned for the corner of Elliott Avenue and Cedar Way with the Bellora Condo on the northwest and The Klee Lofts to the northeast. When built, the 13-story 132 unit building will be within 20 feet of the Bellora’s southerly facade (as close as 10 feet in earlier designs) and an alley width from The Klee.

Update: 4/11. Per the DPD the meeting has been cancelled. See notice
Design Review Board Meeting for Joseph Arnold Lofts
     Date:   Tuesday, April 26, 2011
     Time:   5:30 PM
     Location:   Seattle City Hall
     View bulletin

Rendering courtesy of Via Architecture

975 John Street (South Lake Union)

Rollin Street Flats may soon get a new neighbor. A land use application (see bulletin) has been filed for an adjacent parcel located Northeast of Rollin Street, which is owned by Investco Properties. The application is for a 7-story, 145 unit residential building with 72 parking spaces. Investco’s residential arm develops and manages apartment buildings.

Vulcan has left the door open to re-convert Rollin Street Flats back to condominiums when the condo market rebounds.

420 Pontius (South Lake Union / Cascade)

Vulcan Real Estate is proposing a massive residential development that’ll encompass an entire block in the SLU/Cascade neighborhood, bounded by Pontius, Republican, Yale and Harrison. The proposed development will incorporate the historic landmark Supply Laundry Building with 7-story buildings, up to 320 residential units, approximately 10,000 square feet of retail space and parking for 360 vehicles (per the design proposal document).

The Laundry Block site is part of Vulcan’s vision to redevelop the South Lake Union area into desirable urban village attracting new businesses and residents. The Laundry Block is located 4 blocks east of Amazon’s new campus and 2 blocks north of REI.

Design Review Board Meeting for 420 Pontius / Laundry Block
     Date:   Wednesday, April 20, 2011
     Time:   6:30 PM and 8:00 pm
     Location:   Queen Anne Community Center, 1901 1st Avenue West, Room 3
     Design Proposal from October 2010 download (9 mb PDF)
     Report from the October 2010 meeting; view bulletin

Rendering courtesy of Runberg Architecture Group

HAL Real Estate Investments recently acquired a 12,960 square foot parcel just north of the Cinerama Theatre along 4th Avenue. HAL plans to construct a 400-foot residential tower on the site (either apartments or condos) that’ll contain approximately 360 units with retail on the ground floor.

According to Gabriel Grant, HAL’s Investment Manager, “Most downtown residential high rises developed in Seattle over the past few years cater to a narrow and elite demographic. With 2116 Fourth Avenue, we are going in a new direction with smaller units, lower price points, and a lower parking ratio.”

Unique to this project is will be a large scale outdoor projection movie theatre, taking a cue from Fremont’s outdoor movies and Paul Allen’s theatre next door. Interestingly, Paul Allen’s 23-story The Martin condominium project located behind the Cinerama has been on hold during the current market slow down.

Dana Behar, President of HAL Real Estate Investments states “We are very excited about the prospect of designing a new residential tower for downtown Seattle. Though recently many well designed towers have either been entitled or built, we think there is still room to bring something special and unique to downtown.”

HAL Real Estate Investments previoulsy developed the Braeburn and Concord condominiums as well as converted Site 17 and the Newmark Tower.

Illustration by Weber Thompson