Start Nears for $70M Downtown Luxury Apartments

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BELLEVUE, WA-The Hanover Co. of Houston is preparing to break ground here for a 17-story luxury apartment tower. The development site is off the northeast corner of 108th Avenue NE and NE 10th Street, across the street from a planned five-tower condominium development and two blocks from Bellevue Square Mall.

Hanover’s local development partner Eric Kenney tells GlobeSt.com that the total development cost will be about $70 million. The building will have 129 one- and two-bedroom units with high-end finishes and four penthouse units.

Units will average 1,238 sf and rent for around $3 per sf. Project completion is scheduled for February 2008 and the first units will be available for occupancy one month later.

Common area amenities will include an Internet café and complimentary gourmet coffee and tea bar; a Hollywood-style screening room with stadium seating and surround sound; a gourmet demonstration kitchen; a fitness center; and four levels of underground parking.

Kenney says a couple of the expected renter types are young professionals who work downtown and seniors looking to be closer to restaurants and theaters.

The street level will have 6,000 sf of retail, at least 3,000 sf of which will house a restaurant. The street-level also will have a box office and lobby for a 6,500-sf performance theater that will be housed on the second floor.

The project will provide a high-end rental alternative to the luxury for-sale condominium developments that are under way Downtown. Closest to Hanover’s project is Washington Square, a planned five-tower development by Utah-based Wasatch Development Associates. All of the residential units in the first tower sold out in a few hours last month. The first two towers are slated for completion in the fall of 2007.

Already at or near completion is One Lincoln Tower, a 42-story mixed-use building by local developer Kemper Freeman that includes 148 luxury condominium units in the upper half of the building and a hotel in the lower half. All of the residential units have been sold out for several months.

Also last month, excavation began last month for Bellevue Towers. The 542-unit Downtown luxury high-rise residential development will include a pair of 42- and 43-story condominium towers rising above a retail pedestal at the corner of 106th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Fourth Street. The $438-million project is being developed by Portland, OR-based Gerding Edlen Development with equity from Portland,OR-based ScanlanKemperBard Cos. Vertical construction is expected by January 2007 and project completion is scheduled for late 2008.