By Kate Snyder
During a recent public meeting, members of the Bellevue community heard details about a proposal for a 116-unit residential project that would be one part of a larger redevelopment in the city’s northeast end. No action was taken during the meeting, which was meant to be an informational session.
Bellevue-based Pine Forest Properties is the project developer. Pine Forest is a real estate development and operations firm that develops, acquires, manages and leases office, industrial and multifamily buildings in the northwest region. The architect for the project is Seattle-based Weber Thompson.
The project site is located at 1215 120th Ave. NE, at the intersection of 120th and NE 12th St. The site is also bounded by Central Drive to the west and Road A to the north. It shares 120th with the Spring District to the east, and Lake Bellevue is situated to the south, across 12th. Sound Transit’s east link light rail would wrap around to the west and north.
“We’re situated here in this large mixed-use master plan community just northeast of downtown Bellevue in the Bel-Red sub-area just north of Lake Bellevue,” said Amanda Keating, senior principal at Weber Thompson. “We are part of a larger master use development plan… We sit at this corner with excellent south and southwest exposure as well as exposure to the east Spring district and to the north to the remainder of this mixed-use community that is mostly going to be office [and] retail.”
The proposed building is a seven-story multifamily structure that includes parking for 89 cars, utility rooms, bicycle storage, a lobby and community amenity areas, project plans show. The second story would contain apartment units and amenity areas while the third through sixth floors consist of apartments. The seventh floor contains apartments and amenity areas along with an exterior roof deck for the tenants. The project also features a large exterior courtyard terrace with exterior amenities to the south.
The design intent for Building A is to create a “timeless, Northwest style building,” project plans show. The building is articulated through roof overhangs at the seventh, sixth and fifth floors, which coincides with locations where the building is terraced. Most of the units have decks which are designed to take advantage of the modulation and provide spots of individual outside activation on all facades. A large roof overhang on the northwest seventh story terrace would provide cover for an exterior terrace living room. The material palette is durable and neutral yet is designed to allow for a variety in tone. Wood siding at the entry is meant to bring the northwest character down at eye level, and the undersides of the roof soffits would be finished with a wood tone.
Project landscaping includes a large courtyard terrace facing south at the corner at the intersection of 120th Avenue NE and NE 12th Avenue and the tiered planters along the same streets. Keating highlighted specific details about the landscaping plan during the recent meeting.
“The importance of the [south entry] gateway corner is demonstrated with an artistic and naturalistic approach, including tiers of landscaping and walls that step down to the southeast with a small grove of trees fronted by a signature, custom…bench that will be lit at night,” she said. “In front of the bench, there’s a focal point containing a beautiful signature tree that will be surrounded by small holders of which will be reused from the existing rockery that’s currently on site.”
The project is part of Pine Forest Properties’ overall redevelopment of the firm’s Twelfth Place Business Park. Located at 1239 120th Ave. NE, Twelfth Place Business Park is a 130,000 square foot, three-building office park developed by Pine Forest in 1983, according to the firm’s website. The company is currently planning a redevelopment project for the site that will yield up to one million square feet of office, residential and retail uses.
