SEATTLE | Downtown Projects: Completed, U/C, Proposed/Approved

[mSeattle]

November 7, 2014
Auction set for Dec. 5 for old Fed building
By JOURNAL STAFF
http://www.djc.com/news/re/12071702.html

The old Federal Reserve building at 1015 Second Ave. will go to auction after the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors voted down a plan to acquire the building and turn it into a downtown school.

The six-story, 90,000-square-foot building is listed on the U.S. General Services Administration auction website at http://1.usa.gov/1xaptXx. GSA spokeswoman Stephanie Kenitzer said bidding will begin Dec. 5, and the auction will close Jan. 28. The starting bid is $5 million.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by mSeattle

IMO, being "better than" (in Seattle's case, better than other peer US cities) is less commendable than is "being where you could/should be". Never the less, I'm glad that Seattle is adding residential density in the core.

When it comes to cities, "better than" officially means denser. To quote the Urban Bible, this is true "until said density exceeds 145,000 people per square mile." (I'm the author of the Urban Bible, which started today with the referenced passage.)

[seaJ]

Originally Posted by RumbleFish

Interesting take. There is no doubt Seattle is going through an incredible boom (may be the largest ever), but I would say a lot of the construction downtown is not all high rise construction. I would say there are 15-20 buildings under construction in the greater downtown that are over 12 stories, the remainder of construction is projects are in the to 6-12 story range. There are a very large number of high rise proposals though and if the majority do get built will make a huge impact on the skyline and the feel of the city!

Also, you mentioned that Seattle seemed small for a city of 3.6 million. That is the metropolitan area of Seattle. That includes cities like Tacoma and Everett which are about 30 miles away in each direction.

In regards to the comments about Vancouver and Seattle being Vancouver lite. This is pretty accurate. Seattle is much more business oriented, and has more commercial buildings in the downtown area and in areas like Bellevue or Redmond. Vancouver though is on a different level when it comes to city planning. Their downtown peninsula I would guess has at LEAST 4 times as many residential high rises as Seattle and way more residents. I feel the city is much more vibrant and smarter about their lay out of retail districts (Robson street and Granville) and parks that blend in perfectly for the large # of downtown residents. The city overall is just much more urban and better planned out than Seattle at this point. Vancouver also has a large amount of residential high rises throughout the region and as you mentioned the Seattle region really does not have high rises scattered throughout the area other than Bellevue. Seattle is doing very well and better than most American cities, but Seattle has a ways to go to catch up to Vancouver IMO.

You know though, I for one wouldn't trade Seattle's tall office buildings and many more historic buildings in its downtown, for a purely residential one, impeccably planned or not. I like the position Seattle finds itself in right now. The residential boom here is spurred on by an equally booming economy. Office buildings AND residential are both rising together. We get to build ourselves into a true live/work downtown. Vancouver is great too of course, I just may have a serious bias towards office buildings as a big part of the picture.

[seaskyfan]

Originally Posted by mSeattle

November 7, 2014
Auction set for Dec. 5 for old Fed building
By JOURNAL STAFF
http://www.djc.com/news/re/12071702.html

The old Federal Reserve building at 1015 Second Ave. will go to auction after the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors voted down a plan to acquire the building and turn it into a downtown school.

The six-story, 90,000-square-foot building is listed on the U.S. General Services Administration auction website at http://1.usa.gov/1xaptXx. GSA spokeswoman Stephanie Kenitzer said bidding will begin Dec. 5, and the auction will close Jan. 28. The starting bid is $5 million.

This seems like a good outcome. I think a Downtown school sounds great but having it in the office core seemed a bit odd.

[alki]

Originally Posted by mSeattle

November 7, 2014
Auction set for Dec. 5 for old Fed building
By JOURNAL STAFF
http://www.djc.com/news/re/12071702.html

The old Federal Reserve building at 1015 Second Ave. will go to auction after the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors voted down a plan to acquire the building and turn it into a downtown school.

The six-story, 90,000-square-foot building is listed on the U.S. General Services Administration auction website at http://1.usa.gov/1xaptXx. GSA spokeswoman Stephanie Kenitzer said bidding will begin Dec. 5, and the auction will close Jan. 28. The starting bid is $5 million.

What a disappointment..........I was hoping they would turn it into a school.

My dream is a mixture of uses....schools with offices, hotels and residences.

[mhays]

The building is highly unsuitable for a school. There's basically no way to do a gym, and the only conceivable bus stop is a Metro bus lane. Any historic protections would be out the window if they wanted to cut doors to the terraces or use the roof. The location is ok for parents bringing their kids on the way to work, but is poor if the goal is walkability from the big growth areas like the Denny Triangle, South Lake Union, and Belltown. The renovation would be very expensive compared to the student population.

It'll be far better to find a site somewhere north. Do some sort of transfer of development rights to make the property affordable. Stack public space, classrooms, and an outdoor roof terrace.

It's an outstanding site for a new office, hotel, and/or residential building. My dream would be a 60-story, 600-unit apartment, or maybe hotel with apartment above. Let a bunch of people turn commutes into walks.

[alki]

Skanska Unveils Plans for 'Forest-Like' Downtown Office Tower

Friday, November 7, 2014, by Sean Keeley




http://seattle.curbed.com/archives/2...fice-tower.php

[alki]

The New and Improved Cinerama Opens on November 20

Posted by Charles Mudede on Thu, Nov 6, 2014 at 11:20 AM



http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/arc...on-november-20

[alki]

Originally Posted by seaJ

You know though, I for one wouldn't trade Seattle's tall office buildings and many more historic buildings in its downtown, for a purely residential one, impeccably planned or not. I like the position Seattle finds itself in right now. The residential boom here is spurred on by an equally booming economy. Office buildings AND residential are both rising together. We get to build ourselves into a true live/work downtown. Vancouver is great too of course, I just may have a serious bias towards office buildings as a big part of the picture.

And Vancouver doesn't have the job growth Seattle has. Some German friends found that out the hard way. Vancouver is kind of like the SF of Canada without the jobs to back it up.

[simms3_redux]

Originally Posted by alki

Skanska Unveils Plans for 'Forest-Like' Downtown Office Tower

Friday, November 7, 2014, by Sean Keeley




http://seattle.curbed.com/archives/2...fice-tower.php

Absolutely loving this!!

[alki]

Originally Posted by simms3_redux

Absolutely loving this!!

Whew! I was getting worried no one had noticed. I hope it gets built exactly the way its presented in the rendering. It could be one very hot bldg.

[mSeattle]

That's a nice-looking project. Really like the "tree" thing they're doing.
Now that I think of it, the Gateway/Key Tower/Civic Tower has a hint of that at the base, the trunk and the roof.

[alki]

Downtown Seattle condo prices jump 2 percent in a month

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/m...cent-in-a.html

[subterranean]

That is a gorgeous model. I hope it translates well into reality.

[alki]

Originally Posted by subterranean

That is a gorgeous model. I hope it translates well into reality.

I hope so too. Skansa is a respected Scandinavian developer so I think we have a good shot at getting something good.

[alki]

Amazon expands footprint with latest plan for more buildings

Amazon is still a year away from moving into the first of its trio of planned 37- and 38-story office towers on three blocks in Seattle’s Denny Triangle, but already the tech juggernaut is planning more construction.

http://seattletimes.com/html/busines...UuY29t&urlid=1

[James Bond Agent 007]

Just did a big update of the front page.

[alki]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

Just did a big update of the front page.

Wow. Looks fantastic. Thanks.

[Vashon118]

Verve (2720 4th Ave)


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr


Verve 2014-10-27 by planet_lb, on Flickr

[destroycreate]

I know this may be reaching a bit, but are there any renderings of what Seattle's skyline may look like in 3 - 5 years once all these projects are built? I visited recently and noticed a good amount of parking lots between the Space Needle and CBD, but a friend told me it'll all be filled in shortly.

Kind of going through a Seattle obsession right now, admittedly.