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October 5, 2018

Third & Virginia tower ready for final design review: 48 stories, 459 condos

By BRIAN MILLER
Journal Staff Reporter

Renderings by James K.M. Cheng Architects [enlarge]
Earlier plans for a dome on the roof have been scrapped, but it will have a cantilevered swimming pool, a “sky garden” and amenity spaces.

The tower also will have 115,408 square feet of offices, 5,644 square feet of retail and 372 parking spaces on eight levels below grade.

The rooftop dome is gone, the units have flipped from apartments to condos (as the DJC first reported), and now Third & Virginia is ready for its presumably final design review.

That meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16 at City Hall, 600 Fourth Ave., Room L2-80.

The project is an all-Canadian affair. The corner site at 2000 Third Ave. is owned by British Columbia Investment Management Corp., or BCI. Westbank is the developer. Graham Construction is the general contractor. James K.M. Cheng Architects is the design architect.

Here is the program: a 48-story tower with 459 condos, 115,408 square feet of offices, 5,644 square feet of retail and 372 parking spaces on eight levels below grade.

Total project size, including the parking, is listed as 679,211 square feet.

Notable changes since the last design review, in June 2017, include:

• No dome, but the roof will have a cantilevered swimming pool, “sky garden” and amenity spaces

• A separate new residential entrance on Virginia Street; office entry will be on Third

• More but smaller retail bays, with more entrances

• The translucent metal veil now covers all of the offices in the podium (levels two through seven)

The 19,440-square-foot site is on the northeast corner of Third and Virginia, south of the YWCA. It's now a surface parking lot, though a temporary sales office is under construction there.

BCI acquired the site from Investco in 2013 for $17.75 million.

Condos were once contemplated on the site, some 18 years ago, before the recession and subsequent upzone. Depending on when it starts and finishes, Third & Virginia could face some significant high-rise condo competitors.

Here they are, in order of expected completion:

• Nexus, with 389 units in a 41-story tower at 1200 Howell St. It's over 92 percent pre-sold, with completion expected in late 2019. Burrard Group is the developer.

• Emerald, with 265 units in a 41-story tower now underway at 1613 Second Ave. Create World and Daniels Real Estate are the developer. It's slated for completion in 2020. Pre-sales won't begin until next year.

• Spire, with 352 units in a 41-story tower that just broke ground at 600 Wall St. Laconia Development and Chinese partner Vanke are the owners. It's targeting late 2020 for completion. A sales office is expected to open soon at 2218 Fifth Ave.

• Also in the high-rise condo pipeline are Bosa Development's Third & Cherry (aka Civic Square) with 500 units; Caydon Property Group's tower at Trinity Parish on First Hill (226 units); Daniels Real Estate's 800 Columbia, also on First Hill (270 units); and Pinnacle Plus Development's 1516 Second (aka the Chromer Building), with 498 units. None of those projects have permits or announced start/finish dates.

The Third & Virginia team also includes MG2, architect of record; PFS Studio, landscape architect; Glotman Simpson, structural engineer; KPFF, civil engineer; Integral, mechanical engineer; Hart Crowser, geotechnical engineer; Nemetz S/A & Associates, electrical engineer; RDH, envelope consultant; and Seattle artist John Hogan, who will create public art for the building.
 


Brian Miller can be reached by email at brian.miller@djc.com or by phone at (206) 219-6517.




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