January 25, 2022

CollinsWoerman upsizes the first of two Schnitzer West towers near SLU

Diagrasm by CollinsWoerman [enlarge]

The east building now extends all the way north to Roy Street, with much larger floor plates.

[enlarge]

A cut in the Mercer retaining wall will create a second, lower lobby and bike room access.

The offices planned at 570 Mercer St. will have their next design review, on Feb. 16, under new architect CollinsWoerman. That's because developer Schnitzer West more than doubled its project site with an additional $29 million land deal last month. (The combined site is on the east end of Lower Queen Anne, just west of Aurora Avenue North.)

Before, Weber Thompson was designing the one tower at 570 Mercer. Now, in what Schnitzer West calls Interval on Mercer, the companion west tower will rise at 577 Roy St; and both are now being overseen by CollinsWoerman.

The prior east tower design at 570 Mercer has increased in scale, since its footprint expanded by 12,500 square feet with the December deal.

The eight-story building is now slated to have 198,735 square feet of offices, 10,868 square feet of retail plus 169 parking stalls on over two underground levels. The Mandatory Housing Affordability fee is now estimated at just under $2.8 million. With the roof deck, parking and retail included, the total project size is about 280,000 square feet.

Various design elements have been tweaked and scooched west to both mirror and accommodate 577 Roy (apparently Phase II of the project). That's not yet in design review, but a rendering released with last month's land sale give a clear indication of the duo's complementary design.

As before, the project is gaining extra floor area by participating in the city's Living Building Pilot Program. Healthy features will include lots of rooftop solar panels, rooftop greenery and beehives, water conservation measures, energy-saving features and public art.

The building's west facade and north, Roy-facing aspects are now friendlier and more varied. (Before, its west neighbor was the nondescript and rather shabby 1950s-era Seattle Business Center.) The future new west building won't be a twin, but close.

Rendering by Motiv Studio [enlarge]

The west building (left) isn’t yet in design review.

The architect writes, “One of the more major benefits of expanding the project size is the additional possibilities available for the project to enhance its presence, not only along Mercer and Sixth Avenue North, but Roy Street as well. The additional area allows for more retail along Sixth and Roy, and an expanded lobby which now includes a Mercer Street entrance.”

The latter, also facing the Mercer bike lanes, will allow roll-in bicycle parking for office tenants with about 152 stalls. That entry entails a cut in the north retaining wall of Mercer, and will connect via stairs and small atrium to the upper lobby on Sixth (which dead-ends high above Mercer). In addition, a few steps west on Mercer, there will later be another cut in the retaining wall for stairs leading up to both buildings.

PCL Construction Services will build 570 Mercer. The team also includes DCI Engineers, structural; Navix Engineering, civil; Bush, Roed & Hitchings, surveyor; Site Workshop, landscape architect; PAE Engineers, mechanical; Hermanson, plumbing; GeoEngineers, geotechnical engineer; Coffman and Sequoyah, electrical.

Schnitzer West and CollinsWoerman last week initiated demolition and design review plans for the west building. Schnitzer West hopes to complete the east building in 2024, with the west possibly to follow in 2025. JLL will reportedly broker the 430,000 square feet at Interval on Mercer.