July 27, 2026

In a bleak Bellevue office market, Skanska says Bevel is still happening

Renderings by Plomp [enlarge]

Outside, Bevel revels in its mass-timber design.

In its recent second-quarter office report for the Eastside, Broderick Group said there were no office projects under construction in downtown Bellevue. All the office plans on 112th Avenue are stalled. Capstone pivoted from offices to apartments on 108th. Two of Vulcan's three West Main towers — all leased to Amazon, one up for sale — remain vacant.

Amazon has indefinitely paused its second west tower plan at Bellevue 600, now an interim park next to the light-rail station. Hines and Clarion are also sitting on their office schemes. Pinnacle International remains a big Canadian question mark. Schnitzer West recently said it would start on its Arcadian tower in the “near term.”

The DJC will wait and see about that. There are currently no office-related cranes on the downtown skyline. But, even with high vacancy rates, there are two outliers to the post-pandemic office drought.

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Inside, a warm and welcoming refuge for tenants.

First, Onni Group has done the demo for its three-tower project on 106th, which includes a 45-story office building with possibly 800,000-plus square feet. But there's also permit activity suggesting the proposed hotel will go in that north tower (the other two are residential). So numbers are in flux — and may further change during the long build time. Onni isn't yet below grade on the former Barnes & Noble and John Danz Theatre site.

Second, on the Washington Square block, Skanska is still planning its Bevel office tower at 870 106th Ave. N.E., now a parking lot. The builder/developer shared a new rendering last week of the handsome 12-story building, with about 200,000 square feet. The architects are Mithun and British firm Waugh Thistleton. A substantially mass-timber endeavor, Bevel is still in review with the city.

CBRE's Tim Owens, Scotta Ashcroft and Lennon Atteberry represent the space. Skanska hasn't declared a start date for “one of the tallest and most significant mass-timber office developments in the United States.” Nor is the appetite clear for any new office building — no matter how nice. Bevel, a very premium product, promises biophilic design and many green features.

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Those include “integrated stormwater management and reuse systems, extensive native landscaping, enhanced pedestrian connections, biodiversity-focused site design, and energy-efficient building systems (including full electrification) designed for future proofing and resilience.” LEED Platinum certification will naturally be sought.

Skanska's Charlie Foushee says of the proposal, “Building on the success of The Eight and the strong Eastside market, Bevel represents an incredible opportunity for a future partner to establish a new world-class office or HQ on all levels.”

A small amount of retail is planned. Five levels of underground parking would have about 246 stalls, many with EV charging. And the Bevel site is a three-block walk east to Bellevue Downtown Station — a big selling point.

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Skanska previously built its The Eight office tower on spec. That's now about 90% leased. So it might do the same with Bevel.

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Broderick puts the downtown Bellevue vacancy rate for the very nicest offices, Class A-plus, at over 37%. For all classes of downtown buildings, that figure drops to 23%, and is projected to fall to 19% by next year. That's a promising trend, especially compared to downtown Seattle — where, again, there are no new office projects under construction, and several buildings sit empty.

In Bellevue, who might be interested in whole-building leases or big blocks of space with large new floor plates? “Looking ahead, AI demand represents the most compelling near-term catalyst for the Eastside,” says Broderick. It cites a number of AI companies in the Bay Area that may be looking north to expand. Those include Snowflake (now at the Spring District), OpenAI, Databricks (now at Four106), NSCALE, CoreWeave, XI and others.

“So who's next?,” Broderick asks rhetorically. “Scale AI, Glean, Sierra and Perplexity have all built significant Bay Area footprints, but have yet to enter the Pacific Northwest. Given our region's engineering talent and Bellevue's deepening AI ecosystem, we expect more to follow.”

And if so, if built, Bevel could be poised to greet them.