March 8, 2022

Nearing completion, 26 Pioneer Square units will flip to hotel

Photo by Brian Miller [enlarge]

Some graffiti tags will need to be removed from 115 Jackson, where painting is being done in the alley. JTM Construction will evidently use some of the retail space as a construction office for the 100 S. King St. hotel conversion, also at RailSpur.

Rendering by SHED Architecture & Design [enlarge]

Looking east, the improved alley features new and restored windows and entries into the commercial bays and bike club.

Construction is nearly done with the renovation and addition to what was once called the Fisher Building, in Pioneer Square. The two-story Art Deco-style structure at 115 - 119 S. Jackson St. will have 26 small apartments on its second floor and new penthouse addition. As part of the larger three-building RailSpur project, under developer Urban Villages and owner Manchester Capital Management, those units will instead open as hotel rooms.

SHED Architecture & Design filed plans for the change of use on Monday. A certificate of occupancy hasn't yet been issued for the residential units or commercial, cafe and retail space on the ground floor and basement.

Much of the latter will be devoted to the RailSpur Bike Club & Cafe. The remaining east ground-floor bay is being brokered by Newmark, with 2,810 square feet on offer.

Contractors have sawed new entries into 115 Jackson from its west alley; that and the block's improved transverse alley — a former railroad spur — will link all three buildings in the RailSpur project. SHED's revised plan for 115 Jackson puts the hotel entry on its south end — opposite the newly renovated 419 Jackson office building (aka the former F.X. McRory's building), which is awaiting more new tenants.

In 115 Jackson's west bay, a possible bodega (deli), cafe and taqueria are indicated along the alley, plus the bike club and shop extending to the lower level.Update: Work began under Chinn Construction; JTM Construction is now wrapping up the final phases.

The 115 Jackson hotel will presumably share management with the office-to-hotel conversion planned at 100 S. King St. (the Westland Building), which hasn't yet begun. The units at 115 Jackson have kitchens, and will likely function as extended-stay units. Those are all SEDUs (small efficiency dwelling units), with around 250 to 300 square feet each, plus sleeping lofts.

The general consensus among hospitality industry analysts is that leisure travel is snapping back faster from the pandemic than business and convention travel. Thus boutique hotels are poised to capitalize more quickly than larger establishments where rooms are often reserved in big blocks.

The 115 Jackson hotel will likely open soon after the new citizenM and Pioneer Square Hotel expansion project, both of which are nearing completion on Yesler Way.

At the same time, Pioneer Square still faces enormous challenges in attracting 24-seven residents, whether in apartments or condos, so the apartment-to-hotel plan is hardly surprising. Shuttered storefronts, street encampments, crime and public drug use have afflicted the historic neighborhood during the past two pandemic years.

New and recent multifamily investments have been negatively impacted. The 80 Main apartments sold at a loss last year; and the brand-new Canton Lofts, once projected to be workforce housing, sold instead to the county last fall to house the formerly homeless.