homeWelcome, sign in or click here to subscribe.login
     


 

 

Real Estate


print  email to a friend  reprints add to mydjc  

July 2, 1999

Real Estate Buzz

By MARC STILES
Journal Real Estate editor

High hopes for sculpture garden ... The most intriguing thing about Seattle's proposed sculpture garden is its 7-acre waterfront location. It comes with what should be considered the outdoor museum's first piece.

To the west is the consummate Northwest vista of the Olympic Mountains that appear to be jutting out of Puget Sound. While that's beauteous and all, the real story on location is in the other direction. That is the Space Needle -- the iconic piece of art that says Seattle as nothing else ever will. The Needle peers over the horizon of the steep hill that begins at Elliott Avenue and Broad Street.

Near the crest of the hill -- at First Avenue and Broad -- Intracorp is gearing up to build a twin 12-story condominium project called The Ellington. Construction on the south tower is to begin this summer, and the launch date for the north tower is contingent upon the strength of sales in the first building. Will the towers block the Needle view?

"No, because there's a view corridor setback," said Intracorp Vice President Karen Anderson-Bittenbender.

Now if the Trust for Public Land can raise some more money -- and soon -- the garden will be on its way to reality. Last week it was announced that the trust had collected $12.1 million, more than two-thirds of the $17 million goal. On Tuesday, trust officials and their partners at the Seattle Art Museum held a soiree and said the next day that the fund had been boosted to $14 million. Collecting that kind of money in so short a span is indicative of this heady economy's strength. It is especially noteworthy because at least one other high-profile fundraising campaign, the Loomis Forest Fund, is closing in on its deadline as well.

Sculpture garden backers are zooming in on their goal. "It's close," said the Trust for Public Land's Chris Rogers. "It's wonderfully close. We're all encouraged."

The target date for raising the money to buy the sculpture garden land from Unocal is July 9. That's the deadline for the trust to decide whether the project will go.

During Tuesday's event, there was chatter that the trust would seek an extension from Unocal. "We have not discussed that," said Rogers. "You know, they want a commitment that we're going to purchase it. Fourteen million is a good commitment."

Celebration of a second Seattle landmark -- the 42-story Smith Tower -- has been pushed back a month. The Samis Foundation had planned a grand reopening party to mark completion of the $22 million renovation and expansion of what was the fourth tallest building in the world when it opened July 3, 1914.

The party was to coincide with the birthday but was delayed, probably until August, to give the Samis Foundation time to bring in the lobby furniture and apply the finishing touches. "We want to have things gussied up before we do the grand reopening," said William Justen, Samis' managing director of real estate.

Typically, such events are held to boost interest in the property, but Smith Tower needs no help in the hype department. According to Justen, the amount of available space is 25,000 square feet and shrinking fast. He predicts the building will be fully occupied by the end of the year.

There's talk that they're close on the sale of two Bellevue office parks -- Evergreen and Lincoln Executive Center.

According to our two-source rumor mill, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America and Rosen Properties are vying for Evergreen Office Park I and II. The buildings, on Northeast 33rd Place in the 520/Overlake neighborhood, total nearly 84,200 square feet.

A broker reports hearing that there are three finalists -- the Sabey Corp., and Unico and Spieker properties -- for Lincoln Executive Center, a 5-building, 280,000-square-foot complex on 146th Place Southeast in the Interstate 90 corridor.

Principal Capital Management LLC, a longtime commercial real estate investor in the Puget Sound area, is selling the properties. It is a member company of the Principal Financial Group of Iowa. Martin Smith Real Estate Services of Seattle is handling the sales and is co-listing Lincoln with Legacy Partners. The Foster City, Calif., company co-owns Lincoln with Principal.

All the kids are talking about Metzler North America starting construction of the 610,000-square-foot LakeRidge Square in Redmond. Virtually everyone assumes Microsoft will take all or most of the space, but of course no one can talk publicly about that without ticking off the corporation that proclaims to its employees that they work for the most important company in the history of the world.

Microsoft evidently has gobbled up the new 428,400-square-foot Cedar Court that Hines built just down the street from LakeRidge. Let's see, 428,400 plus 610,000 is, wow, 1 million plus square feet. It's Microsoft -- The Blob That Ate Redmond.

One broker says a better name for the software behemoth is Pac Man. The broker, who was too shy to speak for attribution, noted how Microsoft is munch, munch, munching its way up 148th Avenue Northeast. And when its done there, it's watch out Issaquah.



Previous columns:



Email or user name:
Password:
 
Forgot password? Click here.