Central District’s Midtown Square will feature massive ‘external art’ — These eight artists will create the works

The public process to approve the design of the Midtown Square development was stuck until developers incorporated a plan for large installations of art panels hoped to help the project better reflect the culture and the history of the Central District. With the old strip mall torn down and the construction underway at 23rd and Union, details of the artists who will create those works have been announced.

A panel representing “several Central District based organizations and African American artists,” has selected eight artists for “a commitment of more than $225,000 in dedicated local artwork for the new project,” developer Lake Union Partners announced this week.

“As artists responded to the theme, Reverence and Discovery, which was how the community feedback was interpreted, it became more and more clear just how dynamic the arts program at the location could be,” Vivian Phillips, Midtown Square arts plan consultant, said in the announcement. “The selected artists represent a range from seasoned to emerging, a diversity of ages, all with some level of connection to the Central Area, and a range of concepts that work together to illustrate a proud history and an inspired future.”

Schoolhouse District will provide a ‘personal experience’

There are currently four different districts in Woodinville: Warehouse, Hollywood, West Valley and Downtown. Soon there will be one more: the Schoolhouse District.

The fifth district will offer options for residential living, dining and cultural attractions, sports and recreation, retail businesses, public facilities and a wine walk. Each of these elements will be available by foot, bike, car or public transportation and provide a new place to eat, play, meet and celebrate.

“In its entirety, The Schoolhouse District will provide a personal experience,” The Schoolhouse District website states. “Grab your latte, get a workout in, meet friends for happy hour, and taste a new wine or share small moments with your family at home. People have a variety of needs that must be fulfilled and the Schoolhouse District will provide a variety of options.”

Runberg starts filing plans for 769-unit Grand Street Commons complex

About 3.2 acres of partly polluted land in Seattle's Rainier Valley sold for almost $20 million last year to the three owners of Grand Street Commons. That's a mixed-use venture among Lake Union Partners, HAL Real Estate and the nonprofit Mt. Baker Housing Association.

The site has three components at the intersection of South Grand Street and Rainier Avenue South. Let's call them East Block, South Block and West Block.

Runberg Architecture Group has filed early plans for all three. Those three plans haven't yet entered design review, and may be considered separately.

Work finally begins on complex Woodinville project with 'Wine Walk Row'

Woodinville Wine Country is expanding as part of a long-planned mixed-use development, which includes an historic schoolhouse, two mid-rise apartment buildings and nearly an acre of public open space.

The result will be a new neighborhood named for the project, the Schoolhouse District. It is the city's fifth district, joining Downtown, West Valley, Hollywood and Warehouse, which is home to wineries, breweries and distilleries.

Construction began this spring on the public-private partnership project among the city, Kirkland-based MainStreet Property Group and HAL Real Estate of Seattle. Backers say the 3.3-acre development next to City Hall and the city's sprawling sports fields will transform the heart of downtown when completed in the winter of 2021.

Grand Street Commons site sells for $20M; polluted property to become 700 Rainier Valley units

About 3.2 acres in the Rainier Valley sold last Friday for almost $19.9 million, according to King County records. The sellers were four LLCs representing the Centioli family and others. Jason Rosauer and Rob Anderson of Kidder Mathews were their brokers.

The buyer was Grand Street Commons LLC a new venture among Mt. Baker Housing Association, Lake Union Partners and HAL Real Estate. A press release accompanied the sale and provided details.

The site comprises 16 parcels arranged in three chunks at South Grand Street and Rainier Avenue South. There's no official project address yet. The site a few blocks south of the Judkins Park Station, at Interstate 90, where light rail service will begin in 2023. It's zoned up to 65 feet now, with an anticipated upzone to 75 feet under the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA).

MainStreet Property Group Breaks Ground on SKY Sammamish Mixed-Use Building in Sammamish Town Center

Sammamish, Wash., June 8, 2017 – MainStreet Property Group LLC (www.mspgroupllc.com), a full-service Kirkland-based developer, today announced the start of construction at the SKY Sammamish, a new six-story mixed-use residential and retail building in the heart of Sammamish’s popular Town Center. Construction is slated to be complete by Fall 2018.

Located on the Sammamish Plateau at 22256 SE 4th Street, the SKY Sammamish is situated within the 6.4-acre Sammamish Village project, which recently became home to the newly-opened Metropolitan Market grocery store and several other retailers and commercial tenants.

The SKY Sammamish will feature 159 apartment homes with nearly unobstructed views of the Cascade Mountain Range, downtown Bellevue and Seattle, and will also provide 13,000 sq. ft. of ground-level retail including a restaurant space.

Security Properties starts another 279 apartments in the Spring District

With its Sparc apartments well underway in Bellevue's new Spring District, Security Properties broke ground this week on a second mixed-use complex there.

This one has no name yet, but it will have a total of 279 units in a nine-story building and two six-story buildings. About 3,700 square feet of commercial space are planned with two levels of underground parking for 255 cars. The size is about 367,000 square feet.

In a statement, Security Properties' John Marasco said, “With new residential, retail and office projects on the way, including anchors Global Innovation Exchange and REI, together with the rapidly advancing Sound Transit East Link, we're seeing the long-awaited Spring District take shape, and we couldn't be happier to be a part of it.”

Mithun designed the project, which is scheduled for completion in late 2018.

Units will range from studios to three-bedroom apartments. Rooftop decks, a fitness center, pet salon and bicycle maintenance/storage areas are planned.

Security Properties' team also includes equity partner HAL Real Estate, financial partner Pacific Life Insurance Co., general contractor Walsh Construction and structural engineer Swenson Say Faget.

HAL Real Estate is Gearing Up for Growth

HAL Real Estate has been quiet for a few years, but now the Seattle firm is starting to make some noise. The 23-year-old company recently was named as the equity partner on a five-story building at 744 N. 34th St. in Fremont that Tableau Software has leased. HAL executives told the Buzz this week they are actively looking to get involved in more real estate projects and deals across all sectors. The catalyst for this change is the return last fall of Paul Manheim as president.

HAL Real Estate is the Seattle-based subsidiary of an international holding company called HAL Holding N.V., which has roots that go back to 1873 when it operated as a shipping and travel company based in Holland. According to its website, in 1989 HAL sold off its main operating unit, Holland America Line, to focus on building an international holding company.

Tableau Leases New 5-story Fremont building

Tableau Software said it will lease 110,000 square feet in this five-story office building planned for 744 N. 34th St., just across the street from Tableau's headquarters in Fremont. The developers are Mark Grey of Stephen C. Grey & Associates, and Mike Hess and Joanna Hess Callahan of First Western Development Services. They also worked together to renovate the former Sound Mind & Body Gym in Fremont for Tableau.

A spokeswoman for the project said the developers recently brought in HAL Real Estate Inc. as an equity partner. Work on the site is expected to begin immediately. Tableau representatives said the building will be done in the fourth quarter of 2017, and employees will move there in early 2018.

Weber Thompson is designing the new building and Pennon Construction Co. is the general contractor. Tableau has not selected an architect and contractor for its space. The ground floor will house Milstead & Co. and Cafe Turko, two popular restaurants that would have been displaced by the project. Tableau has quickly become one of the biggest companies in Fremont.

Last summer Tableau signed a lease for all the office space in Northedge, Touchstone's 210,000-square-foot complex set to open this year. Tableau also confirmed reports that it has leased 92,000 square feet on three floors in Kirkland Urban, a complex being developed by Talon Private Capital and Prudential Real Estate Investors. Tableau and Wave were expected to be the first office tenants. Wave has not confirmed reports about its lease in Kirkland Urban. In addition to the Puget Sound leases, Tableau said it has opened offices in New York and Beijing. At the end of the third quarter of 2015 Tableau said it had 2,800 employees worldwide, 60 percent of them in the Puget Sound region. It plans to hire 1,000 employees this year, including 600 in this region. The company's website says it focuses on “one of the most challenging problems in software: making databases and spreadsheets understandable to ordinary people.” The first breakthrough was VizQL, which is designed to let people more easily visualize data.

Tableau's Growth Fuels More Construction

Tableau Software's real estate footprint is growing in a significant way, and not just in Kirkland.

On Wednesday, Tableau (NYSE: DATA) confirmed it is expanding on the Eastsideby leasing 92,000 square feet in Kirkland Urban, a large mixed-use campus in downtown Kirkland. Because the deal will help kick off construction of downtown's largest ever development, the transaction – which the PSBJ reported last week– got plenty of press.

But in Seattle, Tableau signed a bigger lease and it has resulted in the construction of one building in Fremont. Construction started Thursday, said Paul Manheim, president and CEO of Hal Real Estate, an established Seattle real estate company and the project's new equity partner.