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SEATTLE | 600 Wall Street (Laconia) | 440 FT | 43 FLOORS

Tall tower on tiny site by Space Needle will be apartments

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Quote:

Initially, the developer of a multi-family high-rise near the Space Needle planned to use a first-of-its-kind in Seattle, high-tech parking system. Now he plans to just use valet.

It's one of several tweaks to the 43-story project at 600 Wall St. In addition to outlining some of the changes Monday, Paul Menzies said the 400 units will be for rent. His company, Laconia Development of Walnut Creek, Calif., previously had not decided whether to build the tower as apartments or condos.

Menzies, CEO of the company, discussed the updated plans in advance of a Jan. 6 meeting before a city design review board.

The tower will rise on a triangular-shaped surface parking lot that is only about a quarter acre. That's not big enough to build an underground parking garage with ramps, so Laconia had planned to build the project with a fully-automated parking system where a resident would drive into a "parking portal" that would lower the car automatically. Problems with this technology have prompted Laconia to instead have valet operate car elevators that will lower the vehicle into their parking space.

Laconia thinks it's still too risky to build a large condo project downtown.
"The market hasn't risen back to the level of dynamism it had before the recession," Menzies said, adding that he could convert the project later to a for-sale product. "I'm not saying that will happen, but right now I think apartments is the safer way to go."

Apartments in the tower will average 820 square feet. Units will range from studios to two-bedrooms. The packet that Laconia submitted to the city in advance of the Jan. 6 meeting shows some studios will be as small as 327 square feet, with two-bedrooms ranging up to nearly 1,260 square feet. The apartments are designed for the mid-market demographic, Menzies said.

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Reading Material: http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/b...al%29&page=all
Slideshow: http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/g...9%26page%3Dall
Renderings: http://seattle.curbed.com/archives/2...rendsrings.php

Thanks for posting. The building plan has improved in some ways like taking out that red at the base and going blue-silver. Still think it's missing a nice crown treatment.

Didn't a proposal before the recession for this site have a cool crown? Like a circular ring of some sort?

Yes, it did. They did away with it for some reason. It's missing that opportunity and an opportunity to replace the uneven height rectangles with some other feature.

If Seattle is so rich, why is their architecture so mediocre? Are they too far from sensitive minds?

Quote:

Originally Posted by miesian (Post 6885651)

If Seattle is so rich, why is their architecture so mediocre? Are they too far from sensitive minds?

Are you serious? This is every cities architecture, not just Seattle's. Look at what's being built in SF, Chicago, Boston, etc.. New York is perhaps the only city building anything other than glass clad residentials and office buildings.

This is the style of the moment..whether that's good or bad depends on your perception.

1. Seattle's rents and prices are far lower than Manhattan's, leaving less room for crazy designs and expensive materials.

2. We're a seismic zone, which encourages stronger and more straightforward structural designs including more use of concrete in lieu of or along with steel.

3. We're not a trailblazing city architecturally, and our process doesn't encourage it. Design review is about not offending rather than breaking the mold.

4. Our zoning is very restrictive relative to heights (all buildings in nearly all areas) and floor area ratio (commercial buildings in all areas). This means land in highrise and even lowrise (say 65') zones is very expensive. Developers need to maximize square footage. Nobody does a setback or geometric shape unless it fits with the pro forma.

DESIGN REVIEW BOARD PDF:

58 Pages with renderings and info. Everything you need to know about this project.

PDF: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/AppDocs/G...endaID4744.pdf

I took a couple of images from the pdf. Several more but just some I thought where nice.

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Seattle Project Snags Investment from Chinese Developer

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Laconia Development has partnered with Vanke, one of China's largest real estate developers, on a 43-storey Seattle project. The residential tower planned for 600 Wall Street near the iconic Space Needle will rise from a triangular-shaped property currently home to a surface parking lot.

6th Wall flyover 2018 06 16

• Video Link

7/26 to 7/28/2020 Update:

Cladding reaches as high as level 38.
Steel framework for the crown progressing rapidly (concrete work all finished).
Level 43 elevator overrun space fully enclosed.

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