April 22, 2022

Compass Construction to build initial 420 apartments at Northgate Station

Rendering by GGLO [enlarge]

Looking southwest, the larger north building will butt up against the new Northeast 106th Street, which leads to the iceplex.

Now that light rail service has begun at Northgate Station, with the Kraken Community Iceplex also open, what's next for the 55-acre mall makeover? Simon Property Group hasn't announced a schedule or phasing for the coming offices, hotels, retail and apartments.

But on the east side of the property, now going by 10523 Fifth Ave. N.E., plans are rapidly coalescing for the M2 and M3 apartment buildings. Those will be south of the main entry to the iceplex.

Those two midrise buildings will have about 420 apartments, commercial space and parking for both tenants and shoppers. And this week the city issued a SEPA determination of non-significance for the pair, clearing a path toward a MUP and possible start in the coming months. Construction will take an estimated 38 months.

At the same time, Compass Construction is now indicated as the contractor. Plans are very well developed and detailed for the larger north M2 building, with 234 units; and the smaller south M3 building, with 186 units. Both will rise from five to seven stories from the west interior of the development, and up to nine stories to the east along Fifth Avenue Northeast — on a sloping site.

GGLO is designing all the apartment buildings (four are now planned; more may follow), and master planned the first phase of the Northgate Station redevelopment — which spans the south two-thirds of the property.

The M2 and M3 apartment team also includes: KPFF Consulting Engineers, civil; Coughlin Porter Lundeen, structural; Ecotope, mechanical and plumbing; OZ, interiors; Maximilist, branding; Terracon, geotechnical; EA Engineering, environmental consultant; Bush, Roed & Hitchings, surveyor; Allana Buick & Bers, envelope; Reyes Engineering, lighting; and Travis-Fitzmaurice & Associates, electrical.

Total project size for the pair is about 807,000 square feet, including parking, retail, tenant amenities, etc.

M3 has only eight surface parking stalls for short-term use, though it'll be connected by a skybridge to M2, with its 569 stalls — both underground and structured. M3 tenants will have 153 bike stalls, and M2 tenants will have 220 stalls.

HOTEL STILL ON?

As to the broader question of phasing, for a project that began well before the pandemic, the market now favors apartments over offices. That might argue for next prioritizing the M4 apartments (south of M3, on the corner of Northeast 103rd Street) and M1 apartments (north of M2), while waiting to see how and when the office market rebounds. Those two apartment buildings would have over 500 units.

Given that some 900,000 square feet of offices have already been approved in Simon's master plan, a shift to medical offices and life-science space might be warranted for at least some of that total.

The hotel market was frozen during the pandemic. Hospitality industry analysts agree that leisure travel is rebounding quickly, but that business and convention travel are still depressed. Simon's past city filings had indicated that it would start on the H1 hotel about the same time it breaks ground on the M2 apartments.

However, that hotel plan has been mostly dormant for well over a year. Architect DLR Group did this month change the H1 numbers from seven stories to six, while also upping the room count from 154 to 167. No start date is indicated for that project, which will go north of the station and west of the existing structured parking garage. It'll overlook First Avenue Northeast and the elevated tracks. The city calls it a Marriott Residence Inn.