July 3, 2019

4 stories added to twin-tower project in Denny Triangle

Rendering provided by Seattle House [enlarge]

GGLO is the architect for Seattle House, which will now have 45 stories instead of 41.

Last fall, HB Management sold an interest in its planned mixed-use, twin-tower project, at 2300-2350 Sixth Ave., for $31.25 million. The buyer was an unnamed Canadian developer with a Beijing-based law firm. The buyer's broker, Ross Klinger of Kidder Mathews, said at the time that a second pending sale — bringing the total to $60 million — would follow this year for the project, which has its master use permit and has applied for phased construction permits.

Last week, KM provided new details and said that the sale had closed, though it hasn't yet been recorded by King County. The buyer and development partner in the Denny Triangle project is Concord Pacific, which KM calls the largest master-planned urban community builder in Canada. It's new to Seattle, and new to the U.S.

Again, Klinger represented the Concord; and HB affiliate Paragon Real Estate Advisors represented that firm.

Seattle House is the new moniker for what HB had previously called BB6. The marketing website is already up, at seattlehouse.com. It reads in part, “Regardless of your stage in life or how you define personal wellness, Seattle House is purposefully designed to be fluid and optimize your most valuable asset — time.” An in-house car wash, retail market, yoga studio, resident lounges and work suites are indicated — all comprising “a collection of intelligent spaces optimized for fluid lifestyles and optimal wellness.” Prices aren't mentioned.

HB says construction could start late this summer. Comparable projects take two to three years to complete. Before, it was thought that there might be a mix of condominiums and rentals in the two towers. Now KM implies it'll be all condos, which is Concord Pacific's usual business model. HB will be a partner in the venture, though whether a majority or minority stake isn't clear.

Klinger said in a statement, “Concord Pacific and HB Management envision a new vertical city model for the property. It will also bring much needed ‘For Sale' housing product and Concord's much-desired model contemporary urban living to the Seattle market.”

On the latest plans, project architect GGLO says that four floors have been added to each tower. A $7.5 million Mandatory Affordability Housing payment is indicated for the extra floor area. The towers now have risen from 41 stories to 44 (or 45 if you count the rooftop amenity area). They'll be about 465 feet tall.

Other changes in the latest plan set are: up from 963 residential units to 1,031; 67 separate lodging units in the podium (about the same); 12,843 square feet of ground-floor commercial/retail space (down slightly); and underground parking for 670 vehicles (about the same), to be accessed from the alley to the east.

Before, in the 12-story podium, there was to be some commercial office space, which has now disappeared. Now there are condos in the podium.

GGLO is also the landscape architect for Seattle House. (VIA Architecture previously took it through design review.) The team also includes JTM Construction, general contractor; Aspect Consulting, geotechnical engineer; Ground Support, shoring; Decker Consulting Engineers, civil; CKC Structural Engineers, structural; and WSP, MEP engineer.

• What is Concord Pacific? It's both a neighborhood in Vancouver, B.C. and a private developer that's part of the Concord Group. What's now called Concord Pacific Place in Vancouver was developed in phases following Expo '86, on 200-plus acres left over from that fair. Some call it North America's largest development site.

Over the past three decades, over 10,000 condos in three-dozen-odd towers have been created in Vancouver's False Creek area, with associated parks, retail and seawall improvements. After three decades, that project is nearly done. Many units are owned by foreign buyers.

Concord has developed several other mixed-use condo projects around greater Vancouver, and it's also now developing over two decades the 45-acre Concord CityPlace in Toronto, with some 12,000 units planned on the former railroad yards.

Concord has offices all over Canada and in London, where it's developing the 50-story Principal Tower, designed by Foster + Partners, i.e. Norman Foster. (Amazon UK is headquartered next door at Principal Place.)

Concord is now controlled by the Hui family, which originally bought the Expo '86 land with Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest man. A University of California, Berkeley-trained electrical engineer, Terry Hui, leads the firm, and also invests in green energy projects. The family money originally came from taxis and real estate development in Hong Kong and China. The Huis bought out the Lis in the late 1990s, though reportedly not without conflict.

• The Seattle House site, on the block also bounded by Seventh Avenue and Bell and Battery streets, is west across the alley from Onni Group's rival project at 2301 Seventh. The twin-tower Block V — a name that may change — was sold by Clise Properties last fall for $79 million to Onni. No start date has been announced. It'll have about 609 units, 543 parking spaces (both underground and structured) and 322,300 square feet of offices in the podium. There will also be about 10,500 square feet of retail. No start date has been announced. Onni is also based in Vancouver, and typically acts as its own general contractor.