October 16, 2014

Chinese company TeamRise plans two condo buildings in Belltown

Courtesy James Hancock and Fendi Xue [enlarge]

TeamRise wants to build a high-rise and a mid-rise building at Fourth and Bell. The company wants to start construction in early 2016.

The North American affiliate of a Chinese development company called TeamRise is planning two condo buildings in Belltown.

Randy Lim, a development manager at the TeamRise Pasadena, California, office, said the preliminary plan is to develop one 24- or 25-story building and one six- to eight-story building at 2302-2316 Fourth Ave. Both buildings will have ground floor retail.

Earlier this week TeamRise paid just over $20 million for three parcels for the project. Katherine Kramer Laird of Century Pacific was the broker for the transaction.

TeamRise wants to start both buildings in early 2016. Lim said the company will have a preliminary meeting with the city next month to begin the permit process.

This is TeamRise's first purchase in North America. It has focused on high rise condo projects in China. Lim said it is among the top 100 development companies in China.

The appeal of the Belltown site is a combination of location, scarcity of new condos and Seattle's ongoing apartment boom.

“We feel that the condo market could be very strong with the current amount of pent-up demand, and the amount of new apartments right now,” Lim said.

TeamRise is working with James Hancock of Vancouver, B.C., on the design. Lim said Hancock has designed more than 200 condo projects. Hancock is currently a design consultant, and previously was with IBI Group.

TeamRise is also working with Mark Lundberg of Carlton Development Group and Matt Hanna of Cairncross & Hempelmann.

Lim said TeamRise has wanted to buy on the West Coast of the U.S. for several years, and mentioned Los Angeles and San Francisco as other places where the company would like to do projects.

Lim said TeamRise doesn't have any other projects in Seattle, but it is looking for more opportunities.

Lim and Qiutong Wang are running the Pasadena office, and the company chairman is Hua Zhang. In addition to the Pasadena office, TeamRise will open an office in Vancouver, B.C., next week.

Lim said TeamRise may open a satellite office in Seattle.

“It may seem like we are moving fast, but we've been planning this for the last four years,” Lim said.