Paul Allen Is Joining Milliken's Urban Village Project

SEATTLE, WA-Billionaire Paul Allen is teaming up with Vancouver B.C.-based grocery developer Don Milliken to create an immense mixed-use project on a large block on Westlake Avenue. Agreements between the two parties for co-development of the mega-complex are reported to be imminent.

Now referred to as An Urban Village at Westlake and Denny, the project proposes several buildings totaling more one million sf. The five-sided, 2.5-acre site in the Denny Triangle area is surrounded by Westlake Avenue, Denny Way, Ninth Avenue, Lenora Street and Terry Avenue.

According to Milliken’s Web page on the project (www.millikendevelopments.com), the project will include ten floors of office space, 237 condominiums, 1,100 parking spaces, and 52,000 sf of community retail space. Milliken’s previous developments have included Larry’s Market on Lower Queen Anne, and the renovation of a Safeway in the same area that involved the addition of 50 residential units.

According to several developers in the Seattle Metro market, mini-communities such as An Urban Village are garnering a lot of attention. With ever-increasing traffic problems here, developments combining office, residential and daily-living conveniences such as grocery stores are expected to become a welcome alternative to daily commutes.