SEATTLE | 600 Third Avenue (Civic Square) | 605 FT | 57 FLOORS

[chris08876]

Civic Square to start next year

The long-awaited Civic Square project is set to begin construction next year.

Brett Allen, senior vice president of the project developer Triad Capital Partners said construction would begin sometime next year. He couldn't say when exactly because the 43-story project is still going through review with the city.

Allen said Triad has financing lined up for the project on the full block bounded by Third and Fourth avenues and James and Cherry streets.

The only things holding back the start of construction are permitting and additional documentation related to a purchase and sale agreement with the city for the site. Triad is also working with King County Metro Transit on a new entrance to the transit station under the Civic Square property.

Allen said Triad would begin construction even if it hasn't preleased space to an office tenant.

The building will have about 600,000 square feet of office space, approximately 200,000 square feet of residential units and 40,000 square feet of retail space. Allen said the current plan is for the residences to be condos.

The DJC previously reported that Triad applied for a shoring and excavation permit in April, and a construction permit in June. Permitting work for the site was active throughout the summer.

Triad's deal with the city is set to expire at the end of the year. The city would transfer the block to Triad and, in exchange, Triad will build a public plaza with retail and services that the city will own. The city values the deal at approximately $25 million, which reflects the value of the plaza and improvements.

Seattle-based GGLO and the British firm Foster + Partners are the architects, and Skanska USA Building is the general contractor.

Civic Square is the last piece of the city's 1999 Civic Center Master Plan, which led to construction of Seattle City Hall and the Justice Center and remodeling of Seattle Municipal Tower.

Triad was selected to develop the Civic Square site after a request for proposals in 2006.

Triad shelved the project during the recession. Several years ago, the developer resumed permitting and started looking for tenants and financing.

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http://www.djc.com/news/co/12082404.html

[timpdx]

Excellent....I was really wondering about this one and thought it would have been restarted long ago in the current cycle.

[TallBob]

Nice project! At 42 floors and the location....it's going to have some pretty Tall neighbors! Only a couple directions will this building be able to be seen, from the south looking north and from West Seattle.

[chris08876]

The height and floor data was off of a design packet on the DOB site for Seattle. It looks roughly the same height. Glad its moving forward.

If anybody has any recent design packets with updated dimensions feel free to share.

[chris08876]

The implosion of Civic Square project is a sigh of relief for Seattle's office market

The Civic Square scandal may have saved Seattle from having a glut of new, unleased office space.

Until Wednesday – when Seattle Mayor Ed Murray iced the Civic Square deal with developer Triad Capital Partners after the company was involved in a political scandal– Triad said it was gearing up to start construction early next year on the 43-story tower, which calls for 600,000 square feet of office along with around 125 condos, retail and a public plaza.

Two towers are already under construction near Civic Square – the Mark and Madison Centre– which together will bring nearly 1.3 million square feet of space to the market when the projects are finished in 2017. No leases for these two towers have been announced.

It seemed as though the company's plan to start building Civic Square was tied to a contractual requirement. Under its deal with Seattle, Triad has to finalize the deal to acquire the city-owned block by Dec. 31 and start construction within 120 days. A Triad official said demand was strong and that was why it was beginning construction, not the city's deadline.

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http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/b...a-sigh-of.html

[chris08876]

Triad Development Reaches $5.7 Million Settlement with Tenants Over Troubled Downtown Civic Square Project

NIMBY ALERT!

When renters fight back against big developers, they win. At least, that's what happened today, as a group of tenants announced they've reached a $5.7 million settlement with Triad Development over its troubled downtown Civic Square Project.

The settlement casts further doubt on the project's viability. Earlier this month, a Triad executive tried to coerce city council candidate Jonathan Grant, the former director of the Tenants Union of Washington, into getting the tenants to drop their lawsuit against the company, which alleges that the city illegally renewed a Triad permit on the Civic Square Project. Mayor Ed Murray said he no longer wanted the city to partner with Triad, but the company has said the project will go move forward anyway.

Under the terms of the settlement, Triad will immediately pay $500,000 into a housing affordability fund controlled by the tenants, according to Knoll Lowney, their attorney. If the developer and the city close the deal on Civic Square and the building is built, the company will put an extra $5 million into the fund. ($200,000 will go toward other fees, including attorneys' compensation.)

Triad didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, and Lowney said he couldn't share the text of the settlement. But he did show me the signatures on the settlement agreement. They include Shawn Walton, one of the Theodora tenants, and Fred Grimm, the president of Triad. "Even though I lost my home, I feel like I learned an invaluable lesson," said Walton. "Rather than just being victims, we organized."

The tenants were displaced over the past two years by Goodman Real Estate, which hiked rents at the Lockhaven apartments in Ballard and purchased the Theodora, formerly a nonprofit housing complex in Ravenna last year. The founder of Goodman Real Estate, John Goodman, is also an investor in Triad. The lawsuit represented an attempt to hold the company and the city accountable. The tenants say the city turned a blind eye to their displacement while giving Triad all the time it wanted to build its project.

Tim Doub, a military veteran, said he was "really happy" with the settlement, even though it won't impact him personally. Doub said he was "lucky" to have received some assistance from Volunteers of America, the veterans support group that ran the Theodora, in finding an affordable studio in the University District.

Grant, the council candidate and former Tenants Union director, said much of the credit for the settlement goes to Eliana Horn, a Tenants Union organizer who dug up the records on the Civic Square Project and proposed filing the lawsuit.

"These tenants—especially Shawn Walton, Evan A. Sugden, Lee Blackden, and Tim Doub—are my heroes. They are fighting for everyone in Seattle, and this is only the beginning," Horn said, speaking from New York City. "This money will allow the housing justice community to explore community land trust and housing co-ops that create permanently affordable housing where tenants will not be displaced."

UPDATE: “This is good news for Triad and the City of Seattle,” said Grimm, the president of Triad, in a statement that confirmed the terms of the settlement. “We can now move forward to re-activate an important piece of downtown Seattle and bring to fruition incredible public amenities and benefits including almost $15 million for affordable housing in Seattle—that's two to three times the amount being provided by other new developments downtown."

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http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slo...square-project

[chris08876]

Extra Renderings:





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http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/n...al%29&page=all

[chris08876]

City says Touchstone has joined the ‘conversation' about Civic Square

The Seattle-based developer Touchstone is getting involved with the long-stalled downtown project called Civic Square.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray's office said in a press release that the Seattle-based firm has “joined the conversation to help the city determine the future of the Civic Square project.”

Triad Development was supposed to transfer the rights to develop the full block bounded by Third and Fourth avenues and James and Cherry streets to another developer by Feb. 29, but the city has extended the deadline until March 11.

There is no final transfer agreement yet, but Murray said in a statement that “promising discussions with Touchstone last week give us reason to allow further dialogue to determine a path forward.”

A Touchstone representative said the firm is advising the city on the next steps for the site.

“We're happy to lend our expertise to the city,” A-P Hurd, Touchstone president and chief development officer, said in a statement. “With this project neighboring City Hall and providing public space, its future is important to us as both a local company and as members of the Seattle community.”

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http://www.djc.com/news/re/12086821.html

[colemonkee]

The woman holding up the green "Tenant Power" sign is just too perfect. She's like the NIMBY incarnate of Anne Ramsey from The Goonies and Throw Momma From The Train.

[mSeattle]

That group wasn't a NIMBY group. It was about technicality of bidding and developer fees.

[chris08876]

Deal falls through — again — for long-vacant city of Seattle property

A full block west of Seattle City Hall will remain a fenced hole for now, as Mayor Ed Murray says that a development deal fell through because of financing problems.

It’s one hole the city of Seattle hasn’t been able to fill.

Although construction cranes sprout around its prime location, the full block just west of City Hall will remain undeveloped for the foreseeable future.

Mayor Ed Murray announced Thursday that the latest development deal for the property fell through. “Unfortunately, no parties have been willing to commit capital to finance the project,” Murray said in a statement.

The mayor said it was time to explore other options.

For 11 years the plan has called for selling the parcel, site of the city’s Public Safety Building until its 2005 demolition. In exchange, a developer would create office, residential and retail space, plus a public plaza on the site bounded by Third and Fourth avenues and James and Cherry streets.

Murray said the city should assess whether the design is viable. City Council President Bruce Harrell said it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

“It seems at this point, given its checkered past, that we need to start over,” Harrell said. “We just need a fresh start. Some of the assumptions back in 2005 may not be valid.”

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http://www.seattletimes.com/business...s-undeveloped/

[mhays]

So many options seem to be available. I'm just guessing.

1. Offer the site, business deal, land use permit to other developers, but allow them to propose other financial terms (same deal, different dollar figure). They might lose millions compared with the old deal but this would have a good return and avoid years of redo.

2. Go out for new developer RFPs. Just realize that the public-private method generally selects the most optimistic developer who offers the most, so you might end up with another deal that sits around and doesn't get built. And all the public benefit they City required in the old version contributed to that. It's not easy to get around all this. Put more weight on the history of the competing firms with big jobs on this scale?

3. Forget the developer concept, and think about other uses. Seattle is woefully inadequate in a lot of things. This location isn't necessarily ideal for some of them, but here goes. Some of these could be built together.

A school is one. We badly need a Downtown school. This location would allow kids to take transit with their parents. However it's not easily walkable for very many kids vs. something a half mile or mile north.

A full-block park is another. Downtown Seattle lacks parks. This would be tough politically because while it could be a nice "city hall park," the nearest park is owned by street people. Parks don't add bums but this would get its share (helping diffuse them from other parks) and the Financial/Government District isn't very active outside business hours, even if that's changing somewhat.

Affordable housing is another. This could work in concert with a developer concept to mix income levels. The block could handle any amount of housing, and tons of people would love to live near work. Adding maybe 500 housing units would help on the retail and atmosphere fronts.

I wouldn't be surprised if we tried to make a lot of constituencies happy here. The best way to do that might be to sell the land outright, because it could exceed $60,000,000 by my guesstimate. That money might stretch farther elsewhere. But I wonder if we'll instead try to cram stuff onto this block. A plaza. A few hundred units of affordable housing, including some true low-income. Some retail. A public meeting facility.

My hope is either the current plan renegotiated, or a ton of housing.

[chris08876]

Civic Square will no longer be empty. Excited about a property agreement that will bring $22M for equitable development & affordable housing

Credit:
Ed MurrayVerified account
‏@MayorEdMurray


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Mayor Murray Directs Negotiation of Civic Square Deal, Proceeds to Fund Equitable Development and Affordable Housing

Today, Mayor Ed Murray sent a mayoral directive to Finance and Administrative Services (FAS) to negotiate the sale of the Civic Square project to Bosa Development and direct the proceeds to establish a new Equitable Development Fund. The sale would also net $5.7 million in funds for affordable housing, meeting or exceeding the Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) program requirement. Combined, nearly $22 million from this sale will go to equity and affordability projects around the City.

[...]

The Equitable Development Fund will be established with the $16 million in proceeds from the sale, and used as part of the Equitable Development Initiative (EDI), which helps ensure Seattle’s existing residents and businesses also enjoy the benefits of development around the city, rather than being displaced by it. These funds will go to community-driven projects such as a cultural center for long-time residents to maintain neighborhood character or a job training program focused on good-paying jobs in the community.

The Office of Planning and Community Development and FAS will work with Council and the community to develop a plan for using the net proceeds from the sale. The additional $5.7 million will go to the Office of Housing to leverage other funding for building affordable housing.

The agreement with Bosa Development replaces the 2007 agreement with Triad Civic Center LLC, which had been hindered by the economic recession and a lack of capital partners. Under the terms of the new agreement, Bosa will develop a residential tower that will include the Civic Square Plaza, as well as retail space. The City will maintain the rights to approve the final design. The City expects to send the agreement to Council for approval in early 2017, with the expectation that it will be finalized by June. Construction would start in 2018.

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http://murray.seattle.gov/civic-squa...e-development/

[Dsence]

http://www.djc.com/news/re/12105674.html


Bosa Development took over the long-stalled Civic Square project at 601 Fourth Ave. a year ago, and now the Vancouver, B.C.-based developer is ready to show its initial plans.

The meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 7 at City Hall, 600 Fifth Ave., Room L2-80.

The Vancouver-based firm James K.M. Cheng Architects is designing the proposed 57-story condominium tower, now called 3rd & Cherry.

The project will fill the full block between Third and Fourth avenues and Cherry and James streets. The 1.3-acre pit has been vacant since the Public Safety Building was demolished in 2005.

Bosa finalized an agreement in August to pay the city about $21.7 million for the site, including affordable housing fees. The agreement also includes creating 25,000 square feet of public space, which Bosa will build and maintain.

The Bosa plan replaces an earlier mixed-use proposal by Triad Development and architects GGLO and Foster + Partners, which stalled after the recession.

Bonus area from the Housing Affordability Living Agenda (HALA) and the public space would allow the Bosa tower to rise 572 feet above Third. Rooftop amenity areas would add another two floors and 57 feet, for an absolute height of 629 feet.

Bosa's preferred design is for a crescent-shaped tower on the east side of the block, closer to City Hall. Its curved facade would be oriented in a northwest direction, toward Third and Cherry. The 520 condo units would be on levels three through 55. Most units would have balconies or decks. Condos would range from one- to three-bedrooms, but sizes aren't indicated. Tenants would enter mid-block on James, from the driveway.

Three retail units, indicated as cafes or restaurants and totaling 9,963 square feet, would face the public plazas and terraces. One of the retail units would have a green roof.

The public space would be divided into upper and lower plazas, with a cascading water feature on the south side of the block, continuing the City Hall water feature design by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol.

click to enlarge
[enlarge]
Three retail units, with cafes or restaurants, would face the public plazas and terraces.

click to enlarge
[enlarge]


Bosa says the new design would acknowledge the 1999 three-block Civic Square plan, and the 2005 plan by GGN and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, which designed Seattle City Hall. Under the 2005 plan, Triad's tower would've been placed more to the north, with open space directly in front of City Hall.

In the new plan, Bosa says, “The same radial geometry that influenced the building also influences the landscape design. A series of terraces are introduced relating to the different retail spaces spread throughout the building, animating the sidewalks, the plazas, and providing an inviting, sunny, and open space for the public to enjoy.

“The plaza will be a lively, sunny area lined with coffee shops and restaurants. These services and their patios will spill out onto the plaza, promoting pedestrian activity and friendly interactions. Informal seating and a water feature will also attract people to the plaza, thus encouraging activities throughout the day.”

Movable chairs and tables, amphitheater-type steps and groves of London plane trees are also mentioned.

Bosa also says that the “view from City Hall's plaza and steps [would be] respected by lifting the eastern portion of the building off the ground.”

PFS Studio, also of Vancouver, is the landscape architect.

Parking for 640 vehicles on four underground levels would be accessed from James, with no other curb cuts.

Of the transit tunnel entrances facing the site from Third, Bosa writes, “We do plan to work with Sound Transit to cosmetically improve the entrances to the stations.”

On the west side of Third are the Lyon Building, operated by the Downtown Emergency Service Center, and the St. Charles Apartments, operated by Plymouth Housing Group. And kitty-corner to the site is the DESC's Morrison Hotel.

A prolific builder of condos in Vancouver, Bosa recently developed the Insignia in Belltown and is now working on One88 in Bellevue. Bosa generally acts as its own general contractor.

Cheng is also designing a 46-story residential tower at 2000 Third Ave. for Canadian developer Westbank.

[chris08876]

Credit: https://www.djc.com/news/ae/12121115.html

[mhays]

Fences are up, noise permit is in place (to lift equipment into the ancient pit), and they say this project starts next month!

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/...osa-tower.html

This is the 57-story, 605' concept in the last photo, including a large public open space element. Can somebody please change the title?

[mhays]

More info:

Shoring permit granted today! That's the true harbinger of a construction start in Seattle (speaking from a contractor perspective): https://web6.seattle.gov/dpd/edms/Ge...spx?id=7781171

Final design review (aesthetics etc.) proposal: https://web6.seattle.gov/dpd/edms/Ge...spx?id=5602636

Is the 15-year saga over?

[JMKeynes]

It's pretty nice.

[mhays]

It's an odd complex for a financial district. The City owns the land and did a developer RFP 15 years ago or so. They required a significant public open space. The first concept put the open space on the side and the new one has the tower in the middle sort of. So it's not terribly urban. There will be a rebuilt subway entrance on the downhill side.

The 422 condos will be among the only housing in the neighborhood. I'm surprised it's not rentals, as the main clientele will be people living near work. It'll also encourage other residential development nearby. A 100-story proposal with 1,000 units has been slow-playing next door, and other sites may be in play soon. The latter is partially due to King County rethinking their handful of blocks, possibly selling some to developers.

Anyway, this will be Seattle's tallest underway project, with the next two being a couple Amazon towers in Bellevue that are just under that city's 600' height limit. Currently the tallest underway within city limits are five towers by three developers that are in spots that allow residentials at 484', plus a few others at 440'.

[TallBob]

I saw a couple posts on SSC a while back that said something about 718'! That close to the Columbia Center it'd be nice to see another 100' in height IMO.