"We just thought it was time to get our paperwork going so we'd be ready for the next round of office construction here," says a source at Wright Runstad, telling GlobeSt.com that the condition of the Eastside office market will be one of the deciding factors on when to break ground. Among other things, vacancy rates and the amount of preleasing activity should help them determine the condition.

Having only recently submitted the designs, no tenants have been signed for the project. "We haven't even started that process yet," says the source. Design review may take a while, anyway. Sources say the city may wince at a proposed sky bridge that would connect the development to Key Center about a block away. Knowing this, Wright Runstad says the sky bridge is "in no way essential to the design... it is simply an amenity that could be offered to a tenant with offices in both towers."

The 2.3-acre site at 601 106th Ave. is owned by Bellevue-based Sterling Realty Organization and currently holds a Good Guys store. Wright Runstad believes the terms of the lease would allow the electronics retailer first crack at a 27,000 sf retail space on the second floor of the tower.

"It will probably be two years before (the tower) will impact us," says a source at Good Guys-California Inc. "We do very much like the space we're in now, but, obviously, we're going to do what's going to be best for us in the long term, and will be looking at the space that could be developed as well as other alternatives."

Aside from the 27,000-sf single-tenant space on the second floor, the tower plans call for three sections on the lower floor, which would have a combined 10,000 sf of retail and lobby space. Structured parking is slated to hold 1,127 parking stalls. Portland-based Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership is the project architect. Structural engineering is by Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire, a local company. Other Wright Runstad office projects currently under construction include Dearborne@5/90, and Southport on the south shore of Lake Washington in Renton.

Instant Insights /

Wright Runstad & Co. in Design Review for 630,000-SF Eastside Office Tower

Related Stories

Recommended For You