The new Stadium Place South Tower has folks talking, which doesn’t come as a surprise based on the stacked-block look of the ZGF Architects-designed 25-story tower. Released this month, the look of the North Lot Development project quickly turns the site into one of Seattle’s most noticeable structures and certainly one of the most unique towers in the Emerald City.
Located in the parking lot directly north of CenturyLink Field, the home of the NFL’s Seahawks and MLS’ Sounders, the 240-foot glass and steel tower doesn’t dwarf the neighborhood, coming in at roughly half the height of the tallest portion of the football stadium.
Under the proposal of North Lot Development, the name given to the project by owners Daniels Real Estate and RD Merrill Co., the developers plan to buy the city-owned parking lot that currently serves as parking for stadium events. They will then use general contractor JTM Construction and turn the area nearly adjacent to the King Street Station transit hub (I wrote about renovation to the historic structure here) into a residential center, including over 700 units of housing, retail space, 360 parking stalls and about one million square feet of development on the exact edge of Seattle’s historic Pioneer National Historic District and the cultural opportunities embedded there.
Also, by resting on the edge of the limited-height zone, the new tower, which does come in right at the maximum allowed height, would play prominently in the skyline for southern Seattle. But the views aren’t limited to those looking at the tower, as some of the south-facing upper floors will get some peaks into CenturyLink too, not that too many actually care about the floundering Seahawks (ouch, sorry about that).
Already, the city—and the majority of nearby residents—has agreed that the new tower, complete with the boxed look, works for the site and groundbreaking took place this fall. Architects envision a variety of two- to four-story boxes stacked, although not perfectly, providing overhangs and ledges that also grab hold of altering angles for the 333-apartment complex designed for young hipsters (imagine that!). In a less dramatic ode to the box, the plan also calls for a 10-story West Tower, an apartment project that connects to the South Tower with a four-story “podium” structure that may house apartments and retail.
As the Seattle Times reports, the entire first phase of the project would cost $193 million and have the two towers and connecting building and later on in development comes a 20-story condominium building, 20-story office complex and possibly even another 25-story tower, this time a hotel, for the four-acre site.
With a pair of the cooler newish stadiums in the nation right there (The Mariners’ Safeco Field is next door), Stadium Place Tower should add a bit more pizzazz to the eclectic neighborhood.
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