January 31, 2006
Image courtesy of Gerding/Edlen Development
Units in the 42- and 43-story towers are expected to be priced from $400,000 for a 750-square-foot studio to $7 million for a 6,000-plus-square-foot penthouse.
|
The old Puget Sound Energy headquarters in Bellevue will come down early next month to make way for a Portland developer's energy efficient luxury twin tower condo project.
The $500 million Bellevue Towers at 106 Avenue Northeast and Northeast Fourth Street will have 550 to 560 condos, depending on the final design, above up to 20,000 square feet of retail and at least one restaurant.
Work is slated to begin on the 42- and 43-story towers after the Puget Sound Energy building is demolished the week of Feb. 6.
The Bellevue Towers condos will range from $400,000 for a 750-square-foot studio to $7 million for a 6,000-plus-square-foot penthouse. The complex, being developed by Gerding/Edlen Development, is projected to be completed in winter of 2008.
Scott Eaton, a principal with the Gerding/Edlen, said he believes this will be among the state's most energy efficient projects.
The facades of the towers will be "sculpted" in a way that lets in more light than with traditional buildings, Eaton said. Also, high performance windows, energy efficient appliances and renewable materials will be used, as will paints and finishes that contain low levels of volatile organic compounds and thus improve air quality.
Bellevue Towers will add needed residential to the city's downtown, which has "great retail amenities" but "hasn't been developed to the densities that older cities have," Eaton said.
The project, which will bring nearly 1,000 residents to the downtown core, will be "a new urban model in an area that has typically been more suburban oriented," he said.
Eaton said he hopes the project will be recognized for its innovative sustainable design with the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification.
Other Gerding/Edlen sustainable design projects are Brewery Blocks in Portland, a mixed use development in which some of the buildings received LEED Silver and Gold certification, and South Waterfront, a large Portland urban redevelopment project the firm is co-developing.
The designers for Bellevue Towers are Bellevue's Mulvanny G2 Architecture and Portland-based GBD Architects. The contractor is Hoffman Construction of Portland.
The four-story Puget Sound Energy building, Bellevue's tallest building when it was constructed in 1956, is on the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation's most endangered properties list.
Jennifer Meisner, executive director of the trust, said the organization had hoped it could be saved. However, its demolition is helping raise awareness of the fact that Bellevue doesn't have a preservation ordinance in place, she said.
The trust has said the structure, designed by Harmon, Pray & Detrich, is "an exceptional example of International Style commercial architecture."
