SkyscraperCity Forum banner

SEATTLE | Marion Tower - 801 3rd Ave | 165m | 542ft | 36 fl | Pro

89K views 158 replies 55 participants last post by  Jay 
#1 · (Edited)
A new tower proposed for Seattle's urban core has morphed from what would have been the city's tallest to a more sedate skyscraper with modernist styling and a 616ft atrium:

888'/271m. 60 Fl. Mixed Use


http://www.seattletimes.com/busines...ct-would-be-seattles-second-tallest-building/

They're naming it 888 2nd Avenue. The tower may feature a 616' high atrium.










--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Previously:

Plans for a new tallest tower in Seattle have been announced:

77-story tower planned for downtown Seattle



Real estate developer Greg Smith said he plans to build the tallest skyscraper in downtown Seattle on a site where the famous Metropolitan Grill steakhouse operates.

At 77 stories, it would be one floor taller than Seattle's tallest building, Columbia Center.

Smith, CEO of Urban Visions, a privately held Seattle real estate development and brokerage company, said he has applied to the city for a master-use permit to build the skyscraper.

Construction won't start anytime soon. It can take a year or more to get the city's OK. Then a developer has to line up financing and wait for the market to ripen before starting to build. Smith thinks the time is right to start getting the city's approval, but said, “We are not in a rush. It's a long process.”

Smith is working with his brother, Mickey Smith, a principal at Martin Smith Inc., on the project. Martin Smith Inc. is a real estate investment and management company.

The tower is planned for most of the block between Second and Third avenues and Marion and Columbia streets. The Smiths and some co-investors have owned the property for years. Greg Smith declined to name the friends and family that own the property, though Jim Rowe, president of Consolidated Restaurants, which owns the Metropolitan Grill, said Consolidated is part of the group that owns that building.

Rowe and Greg Smith said the Met, a 30-year-old steakhouse, will be part of the new tower. Rowe said his company’s goal is to preserve the Met “as one of Seattle’s longstanding iconic restaurants” in the same location.

[...]
 
See less See more
1
#100 ·
If I remember the location correctly this site is actually at a lower elevation than the Columbia Center and some of the taller buildings in the city. Even if it is the tallest in the city will its height be enough to actually look the part? IMO, that part of the D/T sits on a much steeper slope. At least it seemed that way when I had to run to catch the last ferry to Bainbridge Island.
 
#106 · (Edited)
From todays DJC.

http://www.djc.com/news/ae/12070907.html

October 16, 2014

Urban Visions hires NBBJ for new tower

By LYNN PORTER
Journal Staff Reporter

Urban Visions has selected NBBJ to design a tower at Second Avenue and Marion Street, said Greg Smith, the firm's founder and CEO.

Smith said his firm is starting the permitting process for the building, which will have about 1.1 million square feet of office space and include retail.

The Metropolitan Grill, which is now on the site, will be part of the mix.

Smith said his firm is studying whether to include housing, likely condos, on the top floors.

The firm had filed plans earlier this year to build up to 77 stories, but will come out with a revised plan soon — after it decides on the housing.

No construction date has been set.

Ryan Mullenix with NBBJ is the lead designer. Magnusson Klemencic Associates is the structural engineer.

Urban Visions is also developing an office building in Pioneer Square as the new headquarters for Weyerhaeuser Co. In Seattle, the developer also plans a tower at Second Avenue and Pike Street, and a 1.1 million-square-foot campus called Stadium East near CenturyLink and Safeco fields. NBBJ is the architect for the campus. Mithun is designing the Pioneer Square building at 200 Occidental; and Olson Kundig Architects and Ankrom Moisan Architects are designing the Second and Pike project.

Smith said both the tower at Second and Marion, now named 888 2ND, and Stadium East will be iconic projects.

Stadium East will have seven buildings that range from 120,000 to 420,000 square feet and there will be ground-level retail. He said Urban Visions soon will start design work on that project.

Daniels Real Estate and Schnitzer West are developing office towers near the planned Second and Marion project.

Smith said the other projects won't have water views like 888 2ND will because “there's nothing in front of us.” He said they will be “background buildings.”

The developer said 888 2nd and Stadium East will be designed to encourage workers to be productive and creative, and to make it easier for companies to recruit them.

Older office buildings don't have the systems, bathrooms and elevators to accommodate the increasing number of workers per square foot that companies are putting in offices, nor do they have the high ceilings, natural light and operable windows, Smith said. The office projects Urban Visions plans are being designed for the next generation of users, he said.

South Lake Union has been an epicenter of development for a number of years. Smith said that energy is expanding south in the city, as more housing gets created and more companies set up shop there. The area also has good transit and less traffic than South Lake Union, he said.
So much for that beauty we saw from Gensler...

One last look at it.
 
#108 ·
As bummed as I am to see the Gensler model go, NBBJ is a very smart, talented firm. I spend a lot of time at Pauley Pavillion at UCLA, where they recently did a massive renovation, and it's full of clever, contextual touches. Whatever the exterior of this tower looks like, at the human level, it's going to be designed with a ton of care.
 
#130 ·
almost perfect design and declined...:eek:hno:
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top