Pine Street Group
Managing partner: Matt Griffin
Specialty: Urban development in downtown Seattle
Year founded: 1994
Headquaters: Seattle
Griffin |
Now that they’re inching closer to construction of the Washington Mutual Tower and Seattle Art Museum expansion project, Matt Griffin and his colleagues at Pine Street Group are trying to figure out what their next big project will be.
He knows it should be “something interesting and fun” downtown. “If you can’t walk to it, we probably wouldn’t understand it,” said Griffin, the consummate urban dweller who lives in a condo above Pine Street’s offices in the Seaboard Building.
It’s not that Griffin, who over the years has worked on such high-profile construction projects as the Wells Fargo Center, and his associates at Pine Street Group don’t have things to keep them busy.
The company manages Pacific Place and the Seaboard Building, which Pine Street developed. And Griffin and Stuart Sloan, who together developed University Village, now control a choice downtown property at Second and Pine, though ownership could revert to Portland developer Paul Brenneke.
Then there’s the Washington Mutual/Seattle Art Museum project. Pine Street and Steve Trainer of Seneca Real Estate Group are teamed up as the project owners’ representatives. Much of work, such as the financing and design is done or about finished, and Trainer will oversee construction.
So now it’s on to the next project for Pine Street. What will it be? “I don’t know,” said Griffin. “No idea.”
He does know it has to be “something good” for what he calls his “hood.” It’s about putting the pieces together to make the hood more vibrant. More retail, more entertainment, more office, more housing.
Griffin seems to be homing in on the latter. He thinks more people want to move downtown so they’re near urban amenities. Adding residential would boost the office, retail and entertainment markets.
“I think the market forces are there to do that,” Griffin said. “My guess is residential is the most primed to happen. Clearly to have healthy retail, you’ve got to have a healthy economy.”