Question Marks for Eastside Office Projects

BELLEVUE, WA-At last count, nearly 1.1 million sf of the Bellevue Central Business District’s 5.22 million sf of office inventory was vacant or up for sub-lease — and 1.2 million sf is in various phases of construction there — with another 250,000 sf going up in Eastside suburban areas. Given the state of the market, when developers might break ground on the 7,298,569 sf of additional office projects on the boards is a question, according to a third quarter office market report of Cushman & Wakefield.

Altogether, the report lists 37 proposed office projects, 22 of which are under 100,000 sf. Of those, 32 with 3.96 million sf are targeted throughout the Eastside suburban area. Five, totaling 3.337 million sf, are slated for the Bellevue CBD — the largest being the 1-million-sf development of local Schnitzer Northwest LLC. Equity Office Properties is looking to build its 850,000-sf City Center Bellevue II. And, Wright Runstad and Spieker Properties both have 550,000-plus-sf projects on the boards.

The fifth proposed CBD development is the 350,000-sf Building C of The Summitt, a project of Bentall US, located at the intersection of 108th Ave. and NE 4th St. John Jackson, vice president of development for Bentall US, tells GlobeSt.com the building is still in the design review process.

“It was not (originally) intended to come one line for another two or three years — we’re looking at three years now,” says Jackson.

At the moment, Bentall is focusing on the delivery of approximately 520,000 sf in buildings A and B, now under construction and scheduled for completion next fall.