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Looks nice. This tower is going to make a major impact on the Seattle skyline.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyleraf (Post 6674748)

Looks nice. This tower is going to make a major impact on the Seattle skyline.

Agree. Sometimes buildings like this just blend in - not the case here.

Judging from the renderings, it looks like it does a wonderful job of balancing out the skyline. Looks like a great addition. Really digging the base.

Seattle Stiletto Tower Shows Bet on Mixed-Use Real Estate

http://www.bloomberg.com/image/ivsPe8MCDTVg.jpg

Quote:

A proposed 57-story office tower that would be Seattle’s second-highest building will have apartments at the skyline, marquee retail on the street and a hotel on the same block.

The $550 million Rainier Square project, shaped like a J with a spiked heel in the initial design, is among the first in the city to combine four different types of real estate in one property, said Greg Johnson, president of developer Wright Runstad & Co. The Seattle-based company plans to apply for final review and permits with the local planning department in November, he said.

Developers in the U.S. are building projects with multiple uses -- particularly in cities such as Seattle with strong employment -- as they seek to balance rising demand for urban offices with strong apartment and travel markets. By providing a one-stop place to work, live and shop, they are focusing on sites that may attract companies targeting younger employees who want a short commute and the flexibility of renting.

“The Millennials are driving how people work, play and live and how developments are created,” said David Simon, executive vice president at Los Angeles-based landlord Kilroy Realty Corp., referring to the almost 85 million people born from the early 1980s through 2000.

“This generation is a lot different from past generations,” he said. “This generation wants to be in communities that are self-contained.”

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By Hui-yong Yu and Nadja Brandt
Sep 16, 2014
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...al-estate.html

New Height and Floors: SEATTLE | Rainier Square Redevelopment | 850 FT | 58 FLOORS :cheers:

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Rainier Square redo will put apartments high in the sky

Quote:

[...]

UW’s Board of Regents picked Wright Runstad in May to redevelop Rainier Square and manage Rainier Tower, the adjacent white-pedestal office building that will remain. The developer has deposited $2.5 million with the UW while it seeks the master permit and works on securing an anchor tenant and hotel operator.

Its latest proposal raises the tower’s height from 800 feet to 850 feet, offering 790,000 square feet of office and about 180 apartments that fill floors 40 to 58.

The developer added more floors to the tower for apartments but also bumped up the average size per unit to over 1,000 square feet. The average monthly rent will be about $4,000, Johnson said.

[...]

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November 5, 2014
http://seattletimes.com/html/busines...squarexml.html

Stunning design and at 850 feet! This is going to be one of Seattle's new tallest buildings! :)

I hope this one gets built!! Great spot for an 850 footer! Kind of resembles "Tellus Sky" proposal in Calgary.

I'm not a fan of the boxy shape at the top but hopefully the exterior makes up for that, the base is really cool looking tho! But Congratulations with the height increase!

Great looking proposal. Perfect placement on the skyline too.

yes tall bob. it is very much resembling tellus sky.

Neat tower, but unfortunate location. It will block the view towards 2 Union Sq. from the harbor skyline. The west facing side of 2 Union Sq. is a Seattle icon. A step backwards in aesthetics of the skyline IMO.

The second picture here shows this

http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs...49.25%20PM.png

I don't like how the lowrise hotel portion of this crowds Rainier Tower. They should drop that portion and make it a hardscape plaza from which one can admire both this new tower and the original Rainier Tower. If they really want that additional hotel space then they should stack it into the tower and make it taller...

Nevermind ; original date was pushed back for construction.

J-Shaped Tower Looks to Lure Seattle Tech Firms

Quote:

Can Seattle developer Wright Runstad & Co. convince technology companies that a downtown skyscraper will make better office space than the hip lakefront neighborhood many of the firms now favor?

A lot is riding on the answer—about $600 million in development. In Seattle, as in many large cities, young, fast-growing technology companies often lease space in older, low-slung buildings in sometimes gritty parts of town, avoiding the tall towers built a generation ago and designed for very different tenants—namely, lawyers, bankers and accountants.

But Wright Runstad says the design of its planned building will impress the techies enough to convince them to move to city’s traditional financial district. The longtime Seattle developer’s plans for Rainier Square, unveiled last year and now awaiting final city approval, will span an entire city block and will feature a 58-story tower, a separate 12-story hotel as well as retail space. The first 40 floors of the tower are slated for 765,000 square feet of office space; 180 apartments will occupy the top 18 floors. If built as planned, the 849-foot tower will be Seattle’s second-tallest building.

What makes the building unusual is its shape, which resembles a ski jump, or even the letter “J,” with large bottom floors that narrow as the building rises. As a result, the building will have 27 different size floors. The wide base, with a 33,000 square-foot floor plate, would be significantly larger than most skyscrapers, whose floors are typically more than 25% smaller and rise uniformly from bottom to top.

[...]

To create the large, unobstructed spaces that technology companies find appealing, Wright Runstad’s tower would, on many floors, place the elevators to one side rather than in the middle of the floor as in traditional towers.

The development is a $600 million bet on a part of Seattle that has trailed its local competitors for office tenants—and buzz.

[...]

To be sure, there is more at stake than just a new building. If Wright Runstad, whose development experience includes building the headquarters of Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Wash., and the former headquarters of Amazon in south Seattle, can lure technology companies downtown, it could help jump-start the area’s revitalization.

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http://www.wsj.com/articles/j-shaped...rms-1426614763

It will probably be more than 58 floors when you count mechanical etc. but so thrilled to see this one moving forward!

Quote:

The first 40 floors of the tower are slated for 765,000 square feet of office space; 180 apartments will occupy the top 18 floors. If built as planned, the 849-foot tower will be Seattle’s second-tallest building.

Rainier Square's updated design - May 2015

Quote:

From the start, designers of the 59-story Rainier Square tower in the heart of downtown Seattle have proposed carving and scooping out portions of the building to create a unique, curving high-rise.

That's still the plan, though the design team has tweaked the project to shift where these features will be placed. The public will learn more about Seattle architecture firm NBBJ's plan at a Tuesday design review board meeting at City Hall. It's the second time the board has reviewed the Rainier Square project.

Meanwhile, city officials have determined that the scope of the project, which also includes a 12-story hotel, is so big that it will have a significant impact on the environment. That means the project will require a deeper analysis, including an environmental impact statement (EIS).

But the project developer, Wright Runstad & Co., caught a break because the city has determined that the EIS done 10 years ago in conjunction with the big downtown rezone covers the project. However, Wright Runstad has prepared a short EIS addendum that's under review.

The nearly full-block project at the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and University Street will have a large amount of office space – 780,000 square feet, or about half the amount of space in Columbia Center, the city's largest office tower.

Wright Runstad President Greg Johnson said Friday that the project team still is considering whether or not to start building before leasing any space to office tenants.

The latest plan is to start construction in the middle of next year, Johnson said. Last fall, the plan was to start construction at the end of this year on the project whose proposed cost Wright Runstad had pegged at $600 million.

Around 180 units of high-end housing, 155 hotel rooms, 71,000 square feet of retail and nearly 880 stalls of underground parking also are part of the project that will replace low-slung retail buildings that the developer says are outdated and partially occupied by struggling retail.

At the southeast corner of the block is the 38-year-old Rainier Square Tower. Known for its ultra-tapered pedestal, the tower will remain and serve as inspiration for the design of the new tower.

Under the previous design, a portion of the tower was carved from the northeast side of the tower. But at the urging of the design review board, that team has moved it to the southeast portion of the tower. This will allow better views of the current Rainier Square Tower's iconic base.

Some Renderings found here: http://www.yimbyforums.com/t/seattle...0-floors/732/3
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http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/g...l%3Fpage%3Dall

I like it!

Although I hope the 795' and 50 floors is an old figure at the top of the page. Seattle really needs another 800 footer at least.