Seattle Area Resurgence

Dozens of Projects Under Construction

By Lucy Bodilly

Like mushrooms sprouting after a Northwest rain, construction projects are popping up all over Seattle and Bellevue.

Since 1995, $5.6 billion has been invested in downtown Seattle alone, with 16 projects worth $3.4 billion under construction, according to the Downtown Seattle Association. Five major projects are set to begin.

Across Lake Washington in Bellevue, projects worth $548 million are under way, with more than $1 billion on the drawing boards, city permit figures reveal.

None of these figures includes construction costs for two of the area's proposed transportation mega-jobs. Replacing the deteriorating viaduct, which runs along the Seattle waterfront, with a tunnel is estimated to cost $4 billion. (See sidebar page 21) Repair and replacement on the 520 Bridge, which connects Bellevue and Seattle, is estimated to cost between $1.7 billion to $2.9 billion.

Only one major office tower is under construction, the Washington Mutual Center. When the building is completed in 2007, the bank will vacate the adjacent Washington Mutual Tower, leaving 1 million-sq.-ft. of vacant office space. Projecting when it will be leased out, and when to break ground on more office towers, keeps local developers up at night.

Housing and hotel construction are the big-ticket items in downtown Seattle, which reports the fastest-growing downtown residential growth rate in the country. Four major condo/hotel projects are under way.

The city of Seattle, hoping to double the number of residential units in downtown by 2020, is trying to change the building code to allow for higher density in the downtown core. Also under consideration by the Seattle City Council are changes to office building heights throughout the downtown area.

Downtown Bellevue is just as active. Under construction is Lincoln Square, a $170 million mixed-use project; a new Bellevue City Hall, with a building valuation of $19 million; and the Summit 110 Building expansion, valued at $17 million, all according to the building permits filed with the city.

In late January, Wasatch Development Associates, of Utah, announced plans to build a $1 billion, four-phase project starting in June. The first phase calls for row houses, two 22-story condo towers and retail space. The building valuation for the first phase is $55 million.

In review are a variety of other mixed-use condo and apartment towers with a total valuation of $478 million, according to the city of Bellevue Development Services Department.

Vulcan Inc. is planning a new 450,000-sq.-ft. mixed-use development in the South Lake Union neighborhood.

Located at the southwest corner of Westlake Avenue and Denny Way, the development will include 17,000- sq.- ft. of retail, 302,200-sq.-ft. of office space and 100 residential units. Pre-leasing is underway and construction on the two-tower project could start as early as this year.

Vulcan is designing the development as a high performance "green" building and it will feature more natural daylight than traditional buildings, energy and water saving fixtures and the use of environmentally sensitive building materials.

Callison is the project architect and Sellen Construction is the general contractor.

Following are some highlights of projects under construction.

Lincoln Square

Stuck in the economic slump earlier in the decade, construction on the site of Lincoln Square started and stopped several times and it stood, a question mark on Bellevue skyline for several years.

Lincoln Square is located in the heart of the Bellevue retail core. In 2003, Kemper Freeman, owner of the adjacent Bellevue Square mall, bought the property and hired contractor Skanska USA of Seattle to continue work on the project.

The first phase, a 42-story hotel and condo tower, will be completed in November. Kemper Development touts the project as the second-largest multiuse project under construction in the country. When completed, it will contain a four-star hotel, 27-story office tower, 380,000-sq.-ft. retail podium and 2,000-space underground parking garage.

The delay in construction was a drawback, but one with a silver lining.

Before Freeman decided to buy the partially constructed project, a complete inspection was in order. He called in Mayes Testing to make sure rebar and other weather-sensitive items were in top condition before more work occurred. Skanska took over with a guaranteed maximum price contract and also wanted to make sure the project was in the best condition possible.

"There were some spots where the rebar had rusted and some repairs had to be made," said Frank Young, project superintendent. "Otherwise, the site was in good shape and built according to the drawings."

The real bonus was that 7,200 tons of steel, bought long before the 2004 price escalations, had arrived onsite the day before the project closed down. The purchase is saving thousands of dollars in construction costs. The design for the 1.4-million-sq.-ft. project will remain as originally drawn, except for owner-initiated changes to the parking garage to open up traffic flow.

The changes forced additional excavation and use of a crawler crane that weighed 500,000 lbs. The crane was able to lift beams up to 55,000 lbs., but its use required that shoring be placed five floors below to support the structure.

Skanska celebrated the topping out at the retail portion of the 1.4-million-sq.-ft. project in January. Retail space will include restaurants, a movie theater and a skybridge to Bellevue Square across the street.

Construction on the hotel/condo tower is being speeded up with the use of a column-hung concrete forming system, which eliminates the need for reshoring on each floor. Instead of taking 13 days to complete each floor, it is taking about six, said Tim O'Neill, Skanska project executive.

In addition, a metal-edge form is replacing the traditional wood forming system, saving even more time. The shoring system allowed Skanska to erect the tower using only two tower cranes, instead of the four required under a traditional system.

Now tradespeople are following the concrete finishers as they move up the building. In mid-January, electrical wiring was going in on the sixth floor, rough plumbing on the fourth and the start of drywall on the third.

That process is complicated because the entire project is running on just-in-time-deliveries - more than 3,000 will be received by the time the project is finished.

"Shoppers have to have access to the mall across the street, so we aren't allowed to block traffic there," Young said.

Other projects slated for downtown Bellevue include:

1020 Residential Tower, 250,000-sq.- ft., 160 units of housing residential tower; building permit valuation $13 million;

Ashwood Commons, a phased mixed-use residential project including a 24-story tower retail area, general office structure and common landscape plaza. Building valuation for phase one, the residential tower, is $17 million;

Portalus, A phased mixed-use development in two phases priced at $350 million and over 4 million sq. ft. No application has been submitted to the city of Bellevue.

2200 Westlake

A few blocks north of the Seattle retail district, a three-tower, mixed-use residential project is under way, being directed by Turner Construction, Seattle.

The $120 million project is being developed by a joint venture of Vulcan and Milliken Development, both of Seattle. When completed in 2006, the oddly shaped block will contain a Pan Pacific Hotel, Whole Food Market and two condo towers, graced with a central plaza.

The condo towers are geared toward six different income groups in an effort to provide affordable housing in the downtown area.

The trick to construction, according to project manager Jim Rowley of Turner, is acquiring enough tradesmen to keep up with the pace of the project. Right now crews are pouring concrete for the below-grade garage, but when the tower construction starts, all three will be under construction at once.

Turner will be cycling the trades through, "but we will have to be careful about scheduling because if we need the same trade in all three towers at once, there just won't be enough people," Rowley said.

The high-end condo towers will demand a high level of skill to finish out. Dozens of types of stone and wood finishes are planned.

Materials pricing is one thing that could complicate the project.

"Right now the subs are locked into prices," Rowley said. Still Turner is prepared for variances. "The rebar sub put in a bulk order for all the rebar needed on the job, and the supplier in California is stockpiling it for us," Rowley added.

Milliken and Vulcan agreed to pay for it well ahead of time, which means nobody is waiting for payment on materials that won't be used for months.

Because the building is primarily concrete, other types of steel won't be much of a concern, but the oddball escalation of roofing insulation prices caused some renegotiation of that contract, Rowley said.

Cadillac Building is not the biggest project in downtown Seattle, but it involved the renovation of one of the most historic buildings in Pioneer Square. The first building constructed after Great Seattle Fire is now being rehabilitated by Rafn, of Bellevue.

The building made media attention after the 2001 Nisqually earthquake because it was one of the most damaged buildings in the city. Since then, bracing around the exterior walls has been in place, mostly to protect the public from possible injury in case of another temblor.

The building, owned by Historic Seattle, will be leased by the National Park Service to replace the Klondike Gold Rush Museum. It is the smallest property within the national park system.

The basement and first floor will contain exhibits that chronicle the historic gold rush that put Seattle on the map.

Rafn faced the usual questions when working on a building before building codes and before contractors used standard construction methods.

The building floors sagged as much as 10 in. toward the middle, said Steve Stroming, Rafn's director of commercial projects. To correct the problem, Shaughnesey & Co. of Auburn, Wash., jacked up the floors and placed steel beams and glulam beams under the first floor for more support.

"This could have damaged the perimeter walls, but it went flawlessly," Storming said.

The building core and exterior are being refurbished to meet historical preservation guidelines. Legacy Renovation of is restoring the windows using the original hardware. Pioneer Masonry of Seattle was in charge of repairing the brickwork, inside and out.

The shell and core of the building will be open in May, and the museum will open sometime this summer.