October 27, 2022

Mortenson building big First Hill expansion for Swedish Medical

Renderings by Perkins Will [enlarge]

The future North Tower could begin next year; demolition there is now underway.

Photos via Seattle Design Commission [enlarge]

The North Tower block hasn’t yet been cleared of all its old structures.

Drivers on Boren Avenue could be forgiven for failing to note the demolition last year of an ugly old First Hill parking garage owned by Swedish Medical Center. (Rhine did the demo.) Other minor structures have also been removed on the full block at 1115 Columbia St. It's also bounded by Cherry Street and Minor Avenue. The legacy name is Block 95.

Plans for the block were hatched as part of Swedish's 2005 Major Institution Master Plan, or MIMP, for its First Hill campus. (The Providence-Swedish merger came in 2012.) Block 95 then picked up steam in 2015–2016, receiving design approval from the Seattle Design Commission. The SDC and City Council also approved an alley vacation and skybridge. SEPA hurdles have also been cleared.

Mortenson Construction is now well underway on the earth work and shoring for Block 95. The master use permit came last year for the Perkins Will-designed expansion project.

The tower will rise 16 stories above Minor, where the main entry is to be located, and 17 above Boren. Six levels of underground parking will have about 527 stalls, some with EV charging. (Twenty bike stalls are also included.) The project is listed with a nominal value of $105 million. Size above grade is about 390,000 square feet.

A third-floor skybridge, with a partial green roof, will also connect to the main east complex at 747 Broadway. The tower mass is pushed east, thus rising only five stories above Boren. (That wing will have a green roof.) Block 95 will also have a cafe, entry plaza and terrace on the 16th floor.

The Block 95 team also includes Bush, Roed & Hitchings, surveyor; Stantec, electrical; Site Workshop, landscape architect; Affiliated Engineers, mechanical and plumbing; PCS Structural Solutions, structural engineer; and Coughlin Porter Lundeen, civil engineer. Point B was also a consultant for Swedish.

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Block 95’s entry plaza, at Columbia and Minor.

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Ground work underway at Block 95.

Swedish didn't respond to a DJC query, and there's been no official announcement or ceremonial groundbreaking for Block 95. That may come later this year.

Swedish announced last year that its First Hill campus would be carbon negative by 2030. To aid in that effort, it's working with Creative Energy, which will manage the district energy system also to include Westbank's planned redevelopment of nearby properties owned by the Archdiocese of Seattle and St. James Cathedral.

Mortenson's Block 95 timeline, subject to change, is for completion in 2025. The crane is expected to rise soon.

Mortenson and Perkins Will are also behind the planned new North Tower, which hasn't yet begun. (Confusingly, some also call it the Northwest Tower.) Demolition is now underway for the old buildings there now.

The planned replacement, northeast of Block 95, will have 16 stories and about 406,000 square feet, plus underground parking with around 98 stalls. It'll be on the corner of Minor and Marion Street, also with a skybridge connecting north to the Nordstrom Medical Tower on Madison Street. The goal there is to start next year, with completion around 2026.