In a report by the Seattle Times, Seattle developer Touchstone has taken a tentative deal to buy a portion of Washington Square’s “Superblock.” In their report they have approached the city about building a hotel and office building on the site.
The application filed with the city indicates that the developer would be building on the corner of NE 8th and 106th Ave., across the street from what is now Chase bank.
The article confirmed with the developer that project is under review, but wouldn’t say much more about the proposed 9-story project that would have a 200-300 room hotel, 220,000 – 310,000 square-foot office building, and 30,000 of retail space. Additionally the project would accommodate 600 – 700 underground parking spaces.
The preliminary application for the project is for late September of 2010.
Wasatch Development Partners who own the property have been looking for buyers dating back to October of 2008. This is one of the first signs of new growth since the economy has taken a downward turn in Q3 and Q4 of 2008.
Touchstone is a 20+ year developer in the Puget Sound area. Their recent projects include: 9th & Stewart, 1st and Stewart Hotel, Kirkland Marriott Courtyard Hotel, and West 8th Office building.
Can 200-300 hotel room + 250,000 – 340,000 addition aquare feet fit into 9 stories? Is this project running the length of NE 8th?
Who is the the Architect working with the Developer Touchstone?
A deal is not a deal until it’s signed – and financed. I cannot imagine that with the current state of commercial real estate that anyone in their right mind would be starting a project of that size right now.
Mulvanny based on the following:
http://www.cityofbellevue.org/pdf/Development%20Services/lu_majorprojectslist_3Q09.pdf
Joe, yes much of the commerical RE market needs to work itself out… BUT, with an additional year of planning review and permitting + 2 years approx. of construction, this pegs completion at 2012-2013. While I don’t expect to see ground break anytime soon, I do respect their insight and forward thinking….