May 19, 2022

Onni may start work this year on three Bellevue towers

Images from IBI Group [enlarge]

Looking east across 106th, with the office tower at left.

The city of Bellevue hasn’t yet approved the three-tower Onni 606 project downtown, but there are new signs of activity at 606 106th Ave. N.E. First, Barnes & Noble recently announced that, come September, it’ll move to Crossroads from its longtime home in the former bowling alley. A demolition permit is now underway for that and the former John Danz Theatre.

The tenant for the latter, Doxa Church, moved to Redmond last month, after seven years of renting the old cinema. A fundraising effort is now underway to buy its new home in an old industrial building near Marymoor Park.

Onni Group acquired the 4-acre property from Sterling Realty Organization in early 2019 for $116 million. Planning for the site began roughly year earlier, yet the permit activity has been fairly quiet since then. Onni is, of course, very busy with two major projects in Seattle.

Onni’s current Bellevue program calls for two apartment towers and an office tower with a shared three-story podium. All three would rise to 600 feet. The north office building is slated to have 45 stories and 843,414 square feet. The east and west apartment towers would rise to 51 and 52 stories, with a combined 1,049 units. The west tower would also include a 257-room hotel on floors six through 16. No brand is indicated as of now.

Six levels of underground parking, plus one semi-structured level, would have around 2,455 stalls. Access would be midblock from 106th, leading to a covered porte cochere and two dozen structured parking stalls. About 288 bike stalls are also planned.

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This view looks southeast, with 106th at right.

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Looking north across the Sixth Street pedestrian corridor.

Within the podium, retail/commercial space could possibly total about 38,000 square feet. (That number is squishy, because what Bellevue calls “active use” can also include lobby areas.) That plus amenities would extend to the fourth level, atop the podium. Restaurants, a childcare center, juice bar and more amenities would face the outdoor plazas — the latter totaling about 48,000 square feet, also extending to the fifth floor. Pools, bars and a dog walking area are among those plazas.

Apartments look to run from one- to three-bedrooms. Most of the larger units are concentrated on the premium floors near the top of the development.

A 17,000-square-foot public plaza is planned for the southwest corner of site, facing the Northeast Sixth Street pedestrian connector. A splash park and public art are indicated there, along with many places to sit.

Sixth connects Bellevue Square, to the west, with the coming Bellevue Downtown Station, which could open in early 2024. Onni’s site is a few steps west of that.

IBI Group of Toronto is the architect. Onni will build the project, with no announced start date. The team also includes Core Design, surveyor; landscape architect LOCI, of Vancouver, B.C.; KPFF, civil; Geopacific, environmental consultant; TranspoGroup, transportation consultant; EA Engineering; and Environmental Partners.

The city hasn’t yet approved the towers’ design or Onni’s master development plan. City figures put the entire project at over 3.5 million square feet, including parking and amenities.

Barnes & Noble had been in the old bowling alley since 1993. The company said of Crossroads, “The new bookstore will showcase a fresh design and layout that has been trialed so successfully in its most recent new store openings, featuring a warm environment that encourages browsing along with a locally-tailored selection of books curated by their expert team of booksellers.”