European Tower (BEL)

[Dancer]

Looks like the DJC has a new rendering of the European Tower for us

(Old Rendering)


Real Estate Buzz: Big plans for a tiny parcel in Bellevue





GIS USA wants to let people live large on a small site. The company plans to start construction this summer on European Tower, a 17-story luxury condo building in Bellevue.

http://www.djc.com/

[CityView Jim]

You know, I actually like the use of this small lot. This tower will be almost adjacent to the WA Square project which will be 20+ towers and uses up the last little tiny lot undeveloped between WA Square and the Ashwood Commons project. For several blocks in there, they have developed a bunch of 4-6 story condos/apartments which are nice, but have no height.

There is one small lot between this site and WA Square and I can't picture what is there, but again I think it is developed with the 4-6 story stuff. The more I think of it, the European Tower will have among the best secured views (360) of these upcoming projects.

[Dancer]

I know some people aren’t feeling the love on this one but I’m right there with ya CityView Jim I think its almost as important for Bellevue to mix up the sizes and shapes of the buildings as well as the heights.

[horatio_the_hermit]

I third the motion. This is a lot that is so small, few uses are readily acceptable. We need more creative solutions like this one to make bellevue into the regional center is hopes to become.

[BellevueBoy]

Condo Buyers Offered a Floor of their own

By AUBREY COHEN
P-I REPORTER

Bellevue's European Tower promises continental urban living, but its developers say the building's one-home, one-floor concept is the only way to get some Americans to accept a condo.

"You basically have to take their suburban rambler and stack it 200 feet in the air," said Michael Orbino, the project's living consultant.

Eugene Gershman, chief operating officer for developer GIS International Group, put it another way: "It is the condo for people who wouldn't otherwise buy a condo."

One reason the 16-story European Tower has just one home per floor is its site, which at a paltry 5,500 square feet is smaller than most single-family house lots. Each floor is about 2,700 square feet.

As condo buildings take up larger sites in Seattle, Bellevue and other cities, the region could see more little towers.

"These small sites, there's a lot of them left over as cities developed," said Tom Morton, lead architect on the tower for CollinsWoerman, of Seattle.

Matthew Gardner, a local land-use economist who is not affiliated with the project, agreed that such buildings could proliferate in the Seattle area.

"We've seen them back in Boston and New York for quite some time, but they're certainly new on the West Coast," he said. "It's a great concept. I think it'll probably be embraced."

A condo tower can work on such a small site because of its automated parking system, which uses elevators to deliver cars to parking spaces without ramps or drivers, CollinsWoerman principal Mark Woerman said.

Some Seattle buildings already have incorporated elements that will be part of European Tower. The 30-story Icon Tower, in Denny Triangle, for instance, plans automated underground parking for its modest 10,665-square-foot site. Elevators in Belltown's ESCALA will serve just one home per floor -- with four elevators and four units per floor.

The European Tower also is getting attention from other developers, Morton said.

"We've been approached at least twice since this project has become public," he said. "We're becoming kind of de facto small-site experts."

One home per floor means windows on all sides and no meeting neighbors in the hallway or hearing them through the wall.

The elevator, which opens into each home, visits one floor per trip. And, with just 15 units in the building (the developers expect a buyer to combine the top two floors), residents won't run into their neighbors in the lobby much either.

"Typically, you probably won't see anybody," Orbino said. A roof deck is the only communal space. Membership in the Harbor Club and one of two nearby fitness centers will be included with each unit.

The layout, small number of homes and cost of nearly $2 million to $4 million-plus each create exclusivity, which developers are marketing by, among other things, requiring a password on the project's Web site to view floor plans, images and a virtual tour.

The tower already has appealed to some prominent executives and athletes, Orbino said, although he declined to identify any. About a quarter of the units are reserved, although the sales center won't open for about a month. The development company, based in Moscow, Russia, expects to break ground this summer and finish in fall 2008.

The "European" in European Tower has to do with the building's modern design, which adheres to the International Style, an architectural movement that goes back to a 1932 architectural exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art.

The façade is mostly white metal and glass, with simple, straight lines. Inside, there's more glass, metal and stone. The homes also feature European fixtures and appliances, including automated curtains and ovens.

Fingerprint readers for the garage, front door and elevators will allow residents to enter and leave without keys.

The building would be a "role model... modern European elegance with a James Bond experience," said J. Lennox Scott, chairman and chief executive of John L. Scott Real Estate, which is selling the homes.

Gershman said the European Tower makes sense in Bellevue because the Eastside has many wealthy people who want to stay, but also downsize from a house without giving up too much space.

But Breffni McGeough, a Windermere Real Estate agent who specializes in high-end homes, said he thought the tower was a good concept in a bad location, as long as there were units available in downtown Seattle.

"To me, downtown Bellevue is empty," he said.

MORE INFORMATION

www.europeantower.com

[Method101]

[velciane]

Originally Posted by Method101

I am curious on how deep the hole will be for this one. I couldn't imagine more than 3 floors of "parking". Any thoughts?

[CrazyAboutCities]

I still don't like that building...

[Capitol Hill]

Well, I imagine that the hole will be less than what is typical if you have a ramped parking structure. If you figure a height between vehicles of 7'6" for SUVs and less for cars, you'd be able to fit a lot more cars in the same amount of space. Remember, you don't need to worry about a 'claustrophobic' feel as this area isn't to be visited by people (still accommodating Fire Fighters if necessary).

I imagine that this will be one of the most secure parking structures in the area, with virtually 0 car prowl/thefts. Something to keep in mind for safety conscious people is when exhiting your vehicle are you then going to be open for a carjacking/mugging? All your parcels, etc. Granted, not nearly as much of an issue in Bellevue as it will be when these projects are started in Seattle.

All in all, I like the idea of these types of structures. I just wish this one had better architecture as well.

[rj2uman]

I also agree. We need more of these pencil towers on smaller lots to fill in lots of gaps. Like they do in Hong Kong. But this one, unlike the vast majority I have seen in HK, is actually attractive!

[Dancer]

I love this building. Owning your own floor is just amazing. I would buy a unit in there in a second, if I had just a wii bit more money.

[BMC]

I'm with Dancer. Talk about the perfect address. Floor 16 Euro tower, Bellevue, 98004

[BMC]

Did anyone see the prices for some of these? Floor 4 is $2. Floor 14 is $3.5

[jerai82]

wow, its pretty much built out around the tower, so u'll get 360 degree of view...awesome!

[jerai82]

...but then again, I'd feel weird about elevator opening directly into my unit...

[horatio_the_hermit]

They dont. Each floor has a private lobby. Well, the old 20 story plan had a private lobby on each floor.

[BMC]

I heard you had the private lobby but the elevator only opens up on a floor with a key. It stops at your floor and then either a code is entered or an actual key? Might be interesting to see.

[CrazyAboutCities]

I think it will look like one that you saw in Frasier (Seattle comedy television show) that shows an elevator door open and your unit door just a yard away.

[Backstrom]

Originally Posted by BMC

I heard you had the private lobby but the elevator only opens up on a floor with a key. It stops at your floor and then either a code is entered or an actual key? Might be interesting to see.

The thing that would be interesting/disconcerting about that is if the elevator directly splits between the shaft and your private unit, someone could easily use certain means to get through it and sneak into your unit. THEORETICALLY, it wouldn't be an ideal process of robbery and frankly, I don't know anyone stupid enough to try and carry that out. But yes, I believe that they will probably have a small hallway between the elevator and unit door.

Anyway, I must agree with Crazyaboutcities about the design of the tower. Actually, it's less of the design that concerns me but it's size. I enjoy the prospect of owning one's own floor, but a tower built on a 10,000+ sq. foot site? That's puny! Talk about conservation of land! I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'd rather see a shorter but wider development (such as the Bravern), rather than a taller building built on a teensy parcel of land.

[CityView Jim]

Is it beyond reason that each owner will have access (or control of) one button in the elevator: that to their own floor. I've seen this in other buildings - an owner buzzes me in, and then the only floor I can access is his (for example).