November 5, 2024

Big Pinnacle Bellevue project is still alive and progressing, slowly

Renderings by JYOM [enlarge]

Looking northwest at the south block, Eighth is in the foreground.

It seems like a distant era now, that optimistic year of 2018, when Canadian firm Pinnacle International slapped down $145 million to acquire some 11 acres north of Bellevue Square.

That's still home to the QFC-anchored Bellevue Village Shopping Center. Very ambitious plans emerged not long after the sale for two mixed-use components, north and south of Northeast 10th Street, with international firm JYOM as the architect.

Along with commercial space and parking, the entire development could total around 3.2 million square feet, with some 3,300 residential units … whether rentals or condos remains to be seen. (There's also a separate satellite midrise building to the west, which we'll ignore, with 101 units. That hasn't yet begun.)

Along with the entire master development plan, the north component entered design review in 2021; that hasn't yet been approved. In theory, that's to be Phase I, once contemplated to begin last year. That has lower density and zoning.

The larger south component recently entered design review with the city, which says that a SEPA determination of non-significance is expected. A public meeting will be held on Nov. 14, the same date when the public comment period ends. This is still labeled as Phase II, with 2027 as a very uncertain start date.

[enlarge]

The north component, shown here, entered design review in 2021.

Eight towers are proposed for the 6-acre south site, rising from about 10 to 26 stories. Those would have around 2,114 units, 88,267 square feet of retail/commercial space, and 2,223 underground parking stalls. The notion of a hotel, from three years ago, has been dropped. Thus the unit count has risen by about 40%.

About 102 units would be affordable to households earning 80% of area median income. Those would average 710 square feet, with one or two bedrooms.

Pinnacle, led by Michael De Cotiis, still doesn't list the Bellevue project on its website. The firm is currently building two condominium projects in Toronto. It's also planning a two-tower project in its home city of Vancouver, B.C., with 73 and 80 stories. JYOM is also the architect there. Pinnacle typically acts as its own builder.

The Pinnacle Bellevue team also includes Pacific Coast Land Surveys; EA Engineering, SEPA consultant; Ellumus, landscape architect; PanGeo, geotechnical engineer; Insight Engineering, civil; and SLR International, environmental consultant. Citibank also loaned $72.5 million for the land deal, six years ago.

If Pinnacle has a foreign equity partner, it hasn't been named. Waiting for light rail service to link Seattle to the Eastside, and for lower interest rates, and for Amazon to continue its corporate shift to Bellevue, may prove be a wise strategy, no matter how dilatory.