February 12, 2018

WSCC issues RFQ for firms to help sell two big co-development sites

Rendering by LMN [enlarge]

The 29-story apartment tower, shown here in the center, will have 404 units. The 16-story office tower, on the left, will have 500,000 square feet.

Washington State Convention Center is seeking help with the sale of two co-development sites that are associated with its $1.6 billion expansion project.

Work on the expansion is expected to begin this summer and last about three years.

A request for qualifications appeared in the Feb. 6 edition of the DJC. Responses are due by Monday, Feb. 19.

The project development manager, Pine Street Group, is looking for a broker to sell the sites, and seeking a certified archaeologist and an owner-controlled insurance program administrator.

The office and apartment tower sites are located outside the above-ground footprint of the 1.4 million-square-foot WSCC expansion. They are on Olive Way, north of the expansion site.

The expansion will replace the current four-acre Convention Place Station.

Both towers have been substantially designed by LMN, which also is designing the main expansion project. The towers will sit above the loading docks for the expansion.

WSCC said it “will sell the rights to develop the projects to firms wishing to own them. The expectation is that the purchaser will gain either fee ownership of a condominium interest or fee interest in a vertical subdivision.”

Both towers have been substantially designed by LMN, which also is designing the main expansion project.

Last month, the city design review board approved both towers, each occupying an odd-shaped block, with minor conditions. Here is what's planned for each site:

• 920 Olive Way: A 29-story apartment tower with 404 units, no parking and 6,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. The tower will be 290 feet tall, with a six-story podium. There will decks and amenity areas on the podium and tower roof. The block measures 25,551 square feet.

• 1711 Boren Ave.: A 16-story office tower with 500,000 square feet, no parking and 13,600 square feet of ground-floor retail. It will be 240 feet tall. The block measures 50,979 square feet. Part of the block will also contain the entrance to the underground loading docks.

No parking is required in the downtown area, but both towers will be able to use the WSCC expansion's underground parking, which will have about 742 stalls. Both towers will have large bike rooms, with an unspecified number of stalls.

WSCC said that the two buildings will be designed to “about 75 to 80 percent construction documents, entitled and ready for final refinements by the purchaser.”

Construction of both towers can start in mid-2020 and finish in early 2022, WSCC said, “unless there is a specific reason to do otherwise.”

The WSCC expansion will be built by Clark Construction of Maryland and Lease Crutcher Lewis. The team also includes Magnusson Klemencic Associates , structural and civil engineer; and Rushing, MEP engineer.

WSCC said that the buyer or buyers of the co-development projects can use this team or choose another.