According to the Daily Journal of Commerce, both projects were originally slated to begin back in 2007 but the slow market and lack of construction financing have impacted the projects.

Laconia expects to make a decision in the coming months and could begin construction on Seneca Towers by the end of the year.

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Icon Tower
The other project Laconia is developing in Seattle is the sleek & slender Icon Tower at 6th & Wall. Laconia expects to start construction in August. Completion is slated for the first half of 2011.

Insignia Towers
Work on Insignia Towers (5th between Bell & Battery) may begin as soon as next month according to the developer, Embassy Development, as mentioned in a recent DJC article. That is, of course, dependent on the market showing signs of improvement. The 643-unit project will be constructed in phases with each tower taking up to 37 months to complete.

1 Hotel & Residences
1 Hotel recently announced they’ve completed commercial leasing for the one-block project. Retail tenants will include Equinox Fitness, 1 Spa, the Ocean Restaurant by B.R. Guest who’ll also operate the urban grocer market, and a new retailer for the adjoining Macy’s garage. Completion is anticipated for early 2010.

AVA
AVA noted that they will begin private previews in their new sales center starting in March. The sales center will include a scale-model of the tower, kitchen and bath vignettes, floor plans, representative views and finishes. AVA is one of the few new condo projects to offer homes starting below $400,000. The project recently obtained its master use development permit with groundbreaking scheduled for later this year. Completion is slated for 2011.

114 Pike
There are some new renderings floating around for this project. Though, sources indicate that this project is being placed on hold. I believe occupancy for this project had changed from office/condo to office/apartment.

7th & Westlake
The latest casualty in the condo market shakeup is the office/condo project at 7th & Westlake, confirmed by a principal with Murray Franklyn.

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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.

100 Taylor Ave N & 567 John Street

This nearly 3/4 block project (West side and behind Bank of America) is called Taylor 28 and will feature two 6-story buildings that’ll comprise nearly 200 apartment homes including 5 live/work units and retail space. The site is being developed for Bre Properties.

115 Aurora Avenue

Located behind Starbucks, this 7-story mixed-use project will include 130 residential homes including 5 live/work units. Several comments have referred to this project as condos. The project is being developed in part by Sierra Construction.

ICON Tower (6th & Wall)
Also planned is ICON Tower which will be located directly South of the Hyatt Place Hotel project. The 29-story tower will feature 224 condominium homes. Construction is expected to begin early 2008.

Other Denny Way Projects:

East towards I-5, other residential projects currently under construction on Denny Way include Enso, Rollin Street Flats and the Mirabella.

West towards Elliott Bay, projects currently under construction include Trio, The Bernard and Expo62.

On the horizon are residential projects proposed for the Denny Center lot (Denny & Fairview), Denny & Yale and Denny & Stewart. Most of proposed upcoming projects will fall under the new zoning guidelines which will allow up to 400 feet tall structures.

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“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

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The design for the project, possibly due to it’s small footprint, is to be a tall skinny building. As a result, on average, units are expected to be smaller compared to the other new projects and per the developer, “affordable”. Time will tell what affordable means.

On the main level facing Denny, the project will incorporate 1% for the Arts featuring public art works and fancy lighting. There will be 12 floors of parking; 6 above grade, 6 below grade. From the early rendering, it appears the building will face north with views of the Space Needle and Lake Union.

Construction is planned for Summer 2007 with occupany in 2009.

Seattle PI article

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