August 30, 2022

226 Belltown units planned on long-dormant corner

Rendering by ZO Architecture [enlarge]

This view looks southwest at the tower’s base.

Back in 2017, SkB Architects sold its Belltown headquarters to a Bellevue investor group for over $14 million. It then had an 18-month lease-back deal at 2333 Third Ave., on the corner of Battery Street. The firm is still there, and hasn't signaled any intention to move.

By 2019, owner Hot Rain LLC and ZO Architecture did propose a new apartment building, but the plan never entered design review. One reason, perhaps, is that the old Battery Street Tunnel was then being filled with pulverized viaduct rubble. That demolition work took up virtually all of 2019. It was not a good time to build a new tower, though a good time to plan one.

And yet, there will be an initial design review on Oct. 25 for the unnamed 14-story, 226-unit project. That will likely be a virtual presentation.

Above the building's sixth floor, its footprint has a bent H-shape with many terraces. The penthouse level could also be termed a 15th floor; that's programmed as a lounge with roof decks and ample landscaping.

Two retail/commercial bays would have 7,050 square feet. Three levels of underground parking, accessed from the alley to the west, would have 113 stalls. Residents would also have 106 bike stalls.

Size above grade is estimated at 185,758 square feet. No demolition plans have been filed for the two old SkB buildings and parking lot. The team includes Bush, Roed & Hitchings, surveyor; and GCH Planning & Landscape.

Apart from 2333 Third and a small unbuilt University District student housing project, all of ZO's work has been in China; it lists an office address in Bellevue.