From todays DJC.
http://www.djc.com/news/re/12051365.html
March 28, 2013
Spring District starts with new apartments
By NAT LEVY
Journal Staff Reporter
Security Properties will build the first housing in the 36-acre Spring District in Bellevue.
Wright Runstad & Co., which is redeveloping the industrial area east of Interstate 405 with offices, housing, a hotel, retail and open space, said Security Properties will buy a 2.5-acre parcel in the southwest corner of the district and build 316 housing units in five buildings.
Construction is expected to begin next year. Security Properties also has an option to build 225 units on an adjacent parcel.
GGLO is designing the apartments. Security Properties has not picked a general contractor.
Greg Johnson, president of Wright Runstad, said the company chose Security Properties because of projects it has done in Seattle and San Francisco. He said the company's Epicenter Apartments in Fremont have a unique design that has helped galvanize the neighborhood.
“They really understood the type of neighborhood we were trying to create in the Spring District,” he said. “They have delivered on their development projects and have a great reputation among equity investors.”
John Marasco, chief development officer for Security Properties, said his company likes the location. Proximity to Interstate 405 and state Route 520 will allow Spring District residents to get around the region easily, and by 2023 the new neighborhood will have a Link light rail station.
Marasco said the area is ideal for people who work in Bellevue's hospital district — which includes Overlake Hospital Medical Center along with several other medical buildings — as well as Microsoft employees.
“We are thinking that with the right housing, in terms of style, quality and mix, that we can attract people, who might live downtown because they don't have any other choice, to this alternative location that is significantly less congested,” Marasco said.
The five apartment buildings will vary in height, with the tallest at 80 feet and the others at 65 feet.
Design is still in the schematic phase, Marasco said.
A landscaped staircase at the corner of Northeast 12th Street and 120th Avenue Northeast will serve as a pedestrian entrance to the Spring District.
The housing will be part of the first phase of the Spring District, along with six office buildings and two acres of parks.
One day the district could have as much as 3.7 million square feet of office space and 900 housing units, along with a 200,000-square-foot hotel and 166,000 square feet of retail space.
Johnson said if a tenant comes along that wants all the office space, it could be ready to open by 2017 or 2018.
Wright Runstad will develop the first two office buildings, totaling 490,000 square feet. The company is seeking permits for those buildings but will wait for a tenant before starting construction, Johnson said.
NBBJ is the architect for those buildings, and Howard S. Wright Cos. is the general contractor.
Construction on the first phase will begin this summer with demolition of existing structures, and installation of utilities and infrastructure. Some of the existing warehouses may be retained for a brewery and food truck space.
The first office and apartment projects are expected to be completed in 2015.
Bellevue-based Broderick Group is leasing the office properties, and Jon Hallgrimson and Frank Bosl of CBRE are representing Wright Runstad on residential land sales.