The last 12 months have been “a huge growth year” for Seattle-based Tarragon Development, says principal Joe Blattner. Major achievements last year include developing about 400,000 square feet of industrial space in the Valley South Corporate Park in Sumner, and a $30 million retail and residential complex on the Sammamish Plateau called Saffron, the firm’s largest single project. Blattner says 82 percent of the space at Saffron has been leased. The firm also hired more staff last year, and in the future, wants to “add without creating a big monster,” Blattner says.

The 2000 Third Avenue mixed-use building is Tarragon's major project this year. If successful, the 20-story, 650,000-square-foot building would be the first downtown Seattle project for the firm.

He says industrial markets were stable last year and will remain so, with limited land supply in the Kent Valley expected to be the same. On the other hand, the much-vaunted telecommunications market “just fizzled and went away” over a three-month period last year, though the low return didn’t have a huge effect on Tarragon’s business, he says.

This year, the 2000 Third Avenue mixed-use building is Tarragon’s major project. If successful, it would be the first downtown Seattle project for the firm. The 20-story, 650,000-square-foot building in Belltown would consist of three top floors of luxury condos, 277,000 square feet of office space, and a six-story underground parking garage, which would be shared with the YWCA’s low-income housing project next door. Blattner says the Third Avenue project is very close to getting fully permitted, with construction expected to begin in the second quarter.

Other plans this year include a shopping center in Auburn called Lakeland Town Center, another 400,000 square feet of industrial space at Valley South, and a large industrial project in southern California.

Blattner says vacancy rates for industrial and office space “are headed toward more normalcy.” He predicts that the markets “will not be at the fevered pitch of two years ago and will not be at a trough.” Rents will stabilize as vacancies climb back to a more normal 4 to 5 percent, he says.