September 16, 2021

Trammell Crow and CollinsWoerman prepare new life-science building in Denny Triangle

Rendering by CollinsWoerman [enlarge]

The 1916 Boren building (blue) will sit among a thicket of new residential towers (orange), and be directly south of TCC’s new Boren Lofts, on the same half block.

Trammell Crow Co. owns a corner site at 1916 Boren Ave. in the Denny Triangle. With architect CollinsWoerman, the developer is planning a now 11-story building — up from 10 — that will be marketed for life-science tenants, like Boren Lofts next door. (TCC recently completed and sold that.) The architect refers to the new plan as the 1916 Boren Life Science Building. That proposal has its first design review next month, in what will likely be a virtual meeting.

The DJC first reported TCC's interest in what had been Onelin Capital's intended site for an apartment project. Since then, following the $49 million land sale, 1916 Boren's numbers aren't much changed: about 235,000 square feet of offices; over three levels of underground parking with 225 stalls; and 7,800 square feet of retail/commercial space. The latter would go on the corner Stewart Street, facing a new plaza.

TCC's team now includes Weisman Design Group, landscape architect; and Coughlin Porter Lundeen. Lease Crutcher Lewis is the general contractor.

Truck loading and the parking entry would go on the alley to the east. Two large bike rooms, with showers and a repair area, are indicated at grade. Total project size, parking included, is around 325,625 square feet.

CollinsWoerman's preferred design has 14-foot ceiling heights, suitable for lab and/or office use. Floor plates look to average around 24,000 square feet. The smaller 11th floor would be mostly conference rooms and a fitness center; a large deck is indicated overlooking Boren.

The Denny Triangle is now seeing a half dozen residential towers rise some 440 feet above and around Denny Way. And while Amazon has a significant cluster of office buildings, the two Trammell Crow projects will add to the concentration of life science and medical buildings.

West across Boren is Building Cure, one of three buildings owned or leased by Seattle Children's Research Institute in the triangle. Building Cure is at 1920 Terry Ave.; on its east (Boren) side is a half-block parking lot.

There, with no set schedule, Seattle Children's and architect Aedas are planning a 23- or 24-story building dubbed Research Building 4, or RB4. It hasn't officially entered design review, but meetings with the city began four years ago — as the DJC then reported. RB4 could have around 600,000 square feet.

TCC hasn't yet applied for a demolition permit for the vacant car rental kiosk on Stewart; midblock, the old three-story former Bartell Drugs building was removed before Onelin sold the site.