March 14, 2016

Longtime owners have big plans for site in ID

Image by Hewitt [enlarge]

The 2.5-acre site now is home to Asian Plaza, but a new complex there would have apartments, a hotel, community theater, restaurants and retail.

The owners of a shopping center in Seattle's Chinatown International District say they want to redevelop the property to spur economic growth and help families climb the socioeconomic ladder.

Chinn Investments of Redmond is proposing a four-building, mixed-use project at 1032 S. Jackson St.

The 2.5-acre site is home to Asian Plaza, an office and retail complex that houses Viet Wah Supermarket, Puget Sound Sage, Pacific Travel, and restaurants such as Tamarind Tree and Sichuanese Cuisine.

The complex would include 240 apartments, a 180-room business hotel, a community theater, a child care center, and 80,000 square feet of restaurant and retail. There would also be more than 600 underground parking spaces.

Hewitt is the architect. Chinn Construction is the general contractor.

A Seattle design review board is tentatively scheduled to get its first look at the project at 8 p.m. May 11 at Seattle University Student Center in Room 210, at 1000 E. James Way.

A call to Nathan Chinn, a manager of Chinn Investments, was not returned.

A website for the project says the redevelopment is not intended to displace the existing small businesses.

Viet Wah Supermarket will return as the retail anchor and, the website said, “all of the existing businesses will have the option of moving into the new center.”

“We are looking to ‘upscale' the center somewhat, but without making it inaccessible to the neighborhood population,” the developers say.

As many as a dozen restaurants are envisioned, up from six currently. The website said retail would target “second-generation” Asian Americans, who tend to be more affluent than their parents.

Two of the buildings will have housing, and 20 percent of the units will be reserved for affordable housing.

The developers are looking at ways to design the apartments so they create a community for seniors, such as by having a common area with a kitchen.

The hotel would serve visiting investors from Asia and possibly sports fans, since the stadiums are nearby. The hotel could have a spa, health club, banquet and meeting space, and a rooftop venue for weddings.

A proposed theater would offer live entertainment and show films or host lectures.

Concept designs by Hewitt show the buildings separated by pedestrian plazas that crisscross the steep site.

The complex would be built in two phases, starting with the west side of the site. Construction is slated to begin in 2017.

The project website said the Shiomi-Chinn family has owned the property for more than 60 years.

Chinn Construction is also building the 107-unit Gridiron condominiums for Daniels Real Estate near CenturyLink Stadium. The contractor recently completed Madison Development Group's 216-unit Spruce apartments in West Seattle.

The operating officers for the Asian Plaza project are Dennis Chinn, Duc Tran, Nathan Chinn, Brian Chinn and Jennie Cochran-Chinn.

There is an advisory board for the project and the members are Kevin Daniels of Daniels Real Estate, Matthew Gardner of Windermere and Rita Brogan of PRR.