The Seattle Condo Blog

Laconia Development, the Bay area development firm who’s planning to build two condominium buildings in Seattle, is rethinking those plans. Instead, Laconia may proceed with the projects as apartments. The two projects are Icon Tower, at 6th and Wall Street near the Seattle Center, and Seneca Towers at 8th and Seneca on First Hill.

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.

Seneca Towers
The DJC reported that Laconia Development (formerly Levin Menzies) plans to start work on Seneca Towers this summer and anticipates completion in the summer of 2010. Seneca Towers, located at 8th & Seneca, will consist of 294 units in two towers.

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.

Levin Menzies, the developer behind Icon Tower, is planning another project on First Hill at 8th and Seneca. The $112 million two-tower project will feature 294 condominium homes aimed towards Gen-Xers, empty nesters and Asian immigrants accustomed to high-rise living and will incorporate a Feng Shui design. First time I’ve seen that demographic mentioned in condominium marketing, though, Levin Menzies has marketed to the Asian market with their San Francisco area developments.

The project will include a mixture of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and smaller studios ranging from 360 to 450 square feet in order to offer homes at a more attractive price range, no doubt taking a cue from Moda’s success with smaller units. Prices are expected to begin in the upper $200,000s and range up to $1 million. It’s still too early to know their exact pricing strategy, but say they start at $275,000 for a 360 square foot studio…that’s $763/sq ft. Hefty. Moda’s price per square foot was about $500, in Belltown even (granted the Moda is a low-rise frame building).

The design includes a 24-story tower and an 11-story tower. Interestingly, elevators will only be available in the 24-story tower with skybridges joining the two buildings. From the rendering the skybridges will be on every other floor. Residents in the 11-story tower will need to retrieve their mail from the 24-story tower, apparently because the distance to the 11-story tower is more than mail carriers are allowed to travel from the street.

Amenities will include two roof-top gardens, a theatre, fitness center, artwork, courtyard and a bridge connecting the complex to Freeway Park.

Completion is anticipated for 2010, along with Icon Tower.

Update Jan 2008: Came across these renderings of the smaller tower and it looks like these might be loft units, which would explain why the walkways are on every other floor. Just a guess.

Image courtesy of MulvannyG2