March 4, 2016

Plus wants to start first 2 towers in Bellevue megaproject this fall

Courtesy MZA Architecture [enlarge]

The first two towers will have 355 condos, 435 apartments and retail.

[enlarge]

The second phase is an office tower and a four-star hotel.

Plus Investment USA is moving ahead on its Bellevue megaproject, with plans to break ground this fall on the first phase: a pair of 40-story residential towers.

The Bellevue-based developer is the U.S. affiliate of the Chinese real estate company Plus Investment. Plus USA said in a press release it has 4.6 acres along Northeast Eighth Street between 108th and 110th avenues northeast where it plans to build four towers in a complex called Bellevue International Plaza.

Plus USA submitted a design review packet to the city of Bellevue for the first two towers — 355 condos and 435 apartments — on the east side of the block across from The Shops at The Bravern.

The first phase also will have 1,200 underground parking spaces, and a “marketplace” with a grocery and high-end retail on the ground floor.

The second phase is an office tower and a four-star hotel. Bellevue International Plaza will include open space and pedestrian paths that connect the site with downtown.

Plus USA said the first two towers should be finished in 2019. Condo presales are expected to begin in mid to late 2017.

This will be Bellevue's first condo tower since Bellevue Towers opened in 2009. George Liu, chairman of Plus Investment, said in the press release he sees a lot of demand for condos in Bellevue, specifically from first-generation foreign buyers.

MZA Architecture, a firm started by the former president of MG2, Ming Zhang, is designing the complex with Adamson Associates Architects, which worked on the World Trade Center in New York City. PCL Construction is the general contractor. Other project team members are DCI Engineers, PFS Design Studio and Susan Marinello Interiors.

Kevin Corbett is the CEO of Plus USA. He has 25 years of U.S.-China business experience, focused on real estate investment, capital management and aviation advisory services, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The press release says the Plus USA team has more than 60 years of real estate experience combined. Keith Henrickson is development manager for Bellevue International Plaza, and was project director for Bellevue Towers. Steve Orser, a former executive at Harbor Properties, Wood Partners and Lennar Multifamily Communities, is also on the Plus USA team.

Plus USA said it has been acquiring land for this project since 2012. In 2014, it paid $30 million for Bellevue First Congregational Church's property on the site. About a year later, in February 2015, it purchased more land on the block from Beacon Capital Partners for almost $46 million.

Plus USA said First Congregational will lease back its space until its new location about a quarter-mile away is finished this spring.