A new mixed-use residential project is coming to the city of Newcastle, located just outside of Bellevue. AvalonBay Communities, which is developing the Avalon Newcastle Commons, is currently in the process of building out its 53-acre property that will include apartments, townhouses and retail. While AvalonBay plans to develop much of the site itself, the company is selling off portions of the property to developers for further development of up to 200 for-sale townhouses and additional commercial and retail space. All in all, the 53-acre GGLO master planned project that sits at 6620 Coal Creek Parkway S.E. includes plans for over 900 for-rent and for-sale units across at least twelve buildings with additional retail space throughout.
AvalonBay plans to build 739 for-rent apartments as well as some retail space, however the developer sold off four blocks on the east side of the site, totaling 8.87-acres, to Quadrant Corporation, an entity affiliated with TriPointe Group, for $17 million, which will develop about 95 townhouses. The square footage of those properties range between 50,948 square feet to 132,297 square feet. The remaining 78 townhouses in the complex will be spread across some of the remaining blocks according to the project’s masterplan.
In addition to Quadrant’s purchase, Goldsmith Land Investments also acquired two blocks of the development for $3.5 million. Those two blocks, also located on the east side of the development, line the entrance of the complex and are designated for commercial use. First Western Properties, Inc., a commercial real estate brokerage group with offices in Kirkland and Tacoma, initially listed the sale of the two undeveloped lots for $1.49 million and $1.95 million. One of the blocks, block 1A, is approximately 39,500 square feet that allows for a structure between 4,200 – 5,280 square feet with a minimum of 47 parking stalls. The second block is about 51,000 and will accommodate a building between 7,764 – 9,858 square feet with 75 to 77 parking stalls. Those plans, however, were only initial proposals and the new owner, Goldsmith Land Investments, revised the plans to better fit their needs.
Already 60 percent leased, John Dulcich, president of Goldsmith Land Investments, released the company’s plans for their properties which including breaking the lots up into four buildings comprising a total of approximately 23,000 square feet. Dulcich said their plans are a little more local and a little more service oriented than the initial proposal.
Dulcich said initial plans indicate more than one drive-thru but their adaptations to the proposal include just one drive-thru. “This will be the only drive-thru so if we had another bank or something come in, it wouldn’t be another drive-thru, it’d be a standalone,” said Dulcich. That drive-thru is the smallest of the buildings will be a coffee shop in a 2,420 square foot building with a 200 square foot patio. While Dulcich said the coffee shop has been spoken for, he wasn’t able to say which retailer will occupy the space but he did say it is a very large national coffee retailer.
Plans also include two large retail blocks, comprised of 7,167 square feet and the other at 7,964 square feet. Dulcich said there are already a few retailers leasing space in the two large retail blocks including a large national credit union and a sushi restaurant. He also said another food user will occupy some space in one of the buildings and the remaining tenants will likely be either general retail or financial services. The fourth building is a standalone restaurant that has already been fully leased as well. Dulcich said that space will be occupied by a restaurant that’s not a national chain but also not a first time user either. He said to expect a brewpub. He also said they’re in the talks with another user right now that might take another substantial portion of the building. “Depending on the size, we could have two more retailers and be done or as many as four so really not that many,” Dulcich said.
Overall, Dulcich said he’s very pleased at the strong interest he’s seeing for this space. “We are surprised and not surprised about how strong the leasing is going in terms of the level of interest because it’s an underserved area and the two older centers in town are almost 100 percent occupied,” he said.
Dulcich said they were drawn to this particular development because they felt it was an underserved area and that the property is relatively high level in terms of vehicle traffic. Construction is expected to start in late spring 2017. Goldsmith is represented by Ron Waldbaum of Leibsohn & Company for the leasing and the project architects are Rick Grimes, Sherri Grueneis and Mike Miranda of Freiheit & Ho and Civil & Survey by Goldsmith Engineering.
AvalonBay Communities originally purchased the entire 53-acre property from Mutual Materials Company, which formerly housed a brick plant on the site, for $25 million in 2015. There are still five additional blocks that make up the development, which will include townhouses, two five-story apartment buildings, one four-story apartment building and one four-over-one podium with retail and parking spread throughout.
Avalon Newcastle Commons is an upscale community near the Newcastle Golf Club and up the street from a large commercial development with grocery stores, coffee shops, drug stores and restaurants. The community plans to offer apartments and townhouses ranging from studios to townhomes anywhere from $1,415 to $3,830 per month, according to the developer’s Web site.
The masterplan summary projects construction through at least July 2018 with some components of the project still to be announced.
