By Jack Stubbs
On September 6th, in a transaction that was recently recorded, a retail building in Seattle—home to a branch of KeyBank—sold for $16.5 million, King County records show. The buyer was B45 LLC, an entity based in Seattle, and the seller was KeyBank National Association based in Cleveland, Ohio.
The subject property, located at 1300 NE 45th St. in Seattle’s University District, is a two-story property that was built in 1976 and totals 34,948 square feet, according to public documents. The property is roughly four miles north of downtown Seattle and just blocks from the University of Washington campus.
There are several residential projects slated to come online in the University District, with various developments at various stages of the city’s Design Review process. At an Early Design Guidance (EDG) meeting held in mid-July, a 22-story, 227-unit story tower called Lakeview Student Residences and located at 4126 12th Ave. NE.—developed by Greystar and designed by Weber Thompson—was approved to proceed to the next phase of the design review process, which is anticipated to occur in several months.
The design team on the project hopes to encourage a new era of development in the University District. “This project aims to add to the eclectic, welcoming nature and intimacy of the University District,” states the proposal submitted to the city. “This is a tower in a neighborhood of smaller buildings – sensitivity to its context is critical.”
The project site itself is immediately surrounded by low- to mid-rise apartment complexes, such as The Maverick and Cedar Apartments. Villa Camini, a residential building on a nearby site, one that Greystar also owns, is just two-stories high and as a result will emphasize the dramatic difference between existing and future development on the block.
In early August, a mixed-use project spanning a full city block at the center of the University District—designed by Jackson Main Architecture and located at 732 Brooklyn Ave. NE.—was advanced at a second EDG meeting.
Similarly to Greystar’s in-the-works development, the full-block, seven-story mid-rise on Brooklyn Ave. will look to respond well to surrounding developments in the neighborhood, according to the design proposal, which d is home to a mix of one-story commercial to residential high-rises. The development will retain its 6,800 square foot neighborhood park, which will serve as an amenity and mid-block connection for the community.
In response to Northeast Design Review board’s feedback, the project team updated the façade along Brooklyn Ave., breaking up the 430-foot long frontage by adding additional façade modulation. Additionally, the courtyard expression, reflected in the higher levels of the building, was pulled down to ground level at the mid-point entry of the nearby Safeway and at the transition from the grocery store façade to the site’s open space.
“What we’re doing is really opening up the site on the south portion, focusing the Safeway on the first floor to the north and with the open space down below combining with the existing M Tower…” said Matthew Laase, principal at Jackson Main Architecture, at the meeting.
