BELLEVUE, WASH. — Vulcan Real Estate, a Seattle-based owner and developer, is underway on two mixed-use developments known as 555 Tower and West Main in the central business district of Bellevue. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has preleased the office portion of both properties, which totals more than 2 million square feet.
“We are very excited to be working with Amazon again, and we are thrilled to be kicking off our first development projects in the Bellevue CBD,” says Ada Healey, chief real estate officer for Vulcan. Bellevue is an upscale suburb of Seattle that sits on the east side of Lake Washington in the state’s Puget Sound area.
“It is projects like these that will help stimulate business in Bellevue and help create jobs and opportunity — from construction jobs to new roles in hospitality and local retail — in the years to come,” adds Healey.
The 555 Tower will be a 42-story building comprising 967,500 square feet of office space and 28,400 square feet of retail space. The site is located at 555 108th Ave. NE, immediately adjacent to the Bellevue Transit Center and within walking distance of the future Sound Transit light rail station that is scheduled to open in 2023.
Vulcan plans to transform the public pedestrian corridor on the north edge of 555 Tower into a landscaped, multimodal pedestrian corridor linking Meydenbauer Park to Bellevue’s Civic Center District. Known as the Grand Connection, the outdoor area will feature a large courtyard plaza with flexible seating and pockets of green space. The retail component of 555 Tower will include a standalone, two-story pavilion fronting the Grand Connection.
555 Tower will be a 42-story building comprising 967,500 square feet of office space and 28,400 square feet of retail space. The site is located at 555 108th Ave. NE in Bellevue, Wash.
NBBJ designed the 555 Tower project, and Turner is the general contractor.
The second project, West Main, spans a full city block on the north side of Main Street between 105th and 106th Avenues. The four-acre site was formerly the Bellevue Plaza shopping center. West Main will include three 16- to 17 story towers totaling more than 1 million square feet of office space, plus 33,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
The towers will be situated atop a multi-level subterranean parking garage. West Main will also include a 20,000-square-foot, landscaped plaza and a pedestrian connection with seating, landscaping and other amenities.
Graphite Design Group and Compton Design Office designed West Main, and GLY is the project’s general contractor.
“The positive economic impacts of these two major Bellevue developments by Vulcan cannot be overstated,” says Bellevue Mayor Lynne Robinson. “Both developments will tie into exciting transportation infrastructure and will enhance our unique, accessible and vibrant downtown. I’m excited to see these projects come to life.”
Vulcan and both project teams are targeting LEED Gold certification for 555 Tower and LEED Silver certification for West Main. The companies are also seeking Salmon-Safe certification as sustainable, eco-friendly buildings for both properties.
Construction on both 555 Tower and West Main began earlier this year and completion is expected in 2023.
Since 2000, Vulcan Real Estate has delivered $4.3 billion in real estate across 45 projects comprising 10.5 million square feet and 3,390 residential units. A majority of the development projects (80 percent) has occurred in South Lake Union, one of the largest urban redevelopment projects in the country, several of which were leased by Amazon.
Vulcan’s development pipeline consists of an additional 3.4 million square feet and 2,450 residential units in the Seattle and Bellevue markets.
Amazon is actively expanding its office footprint across the United States. In addition to Vulcan’s two Bellevue projects, the Seattle-based e-commerce giant recently announced 3,500 new tech jobs across six markets. This does not include its 1 million-square-foot space underway at Nashville Yards and its HQ2 campus at National Landing in Northern Virginia.
Amazon’s stock price closed on Friday at $3,140 per share, up from $1,831.35 a year ago.
— John Nelson