October 19, 2005
Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland
Schnitzer looks to bring $400M complex to Bellevue
by DJC Staff
The development arm of Portland's Schnitzer Investment Corp. on Tuesday unveiled plans for a $400 million office and retail complex in Bellevue, Wash., that would replace plans to expand a Bellevue convention center and bring 745,000 square feet of office space and 130,000 square feet of retail space to metropolitan Seattle.
The Seattle office of Skanska USA Building Inc. is expected to begin work on the project in summer 2006 for Schnitzer Northwest LLC, a partnership between Schnitzer Investment and managing investor Dan Ivanoff.
The complex, called the Bravern, which Schnitzer hopes to complete by fall 2008, would feature two office buildings and retail and restaurant space that would comprise 14 conference and meeting rooms, a board room, spa and fitness and business centers and underground and surface parking on a site just west of Interstate 405 in Bellevue.
The complex would share a block bordered by Northeast Sixth and Eighth streets and 110th and 112th avenues with the Meydenbauer Center, which would no longer be expanded.
Pre-leasing of the office and retail spaces began Tuesday, Schnitzer Development said.
The Bravern Office Commons would encompass a 13-story, 248,000-square-foot building and a 23-story, 497,000-square-foot tower.
The Shops at the Bravern would feature 130,000 square feet of upscale retail and restaurant space built around an open-air plaza with outdoor seating areas, a 17-foot-high waterfall, a stone sculpture, a fireplace and a garden.
Most of the parking for the planned complex would be sited underground. Almost 2,000 spaces are planned for a subterranean parking lot, and 70 stalls are planned for a surface lot.
Seattle-based Callison Architecture Inc. is designing the planned project.
Office leasing is being handled by Bill Pollard and Jeff Durrell of Pacific Real Estate Partners in Bellevue.
Retail leasing is being handled by Susan Zimmerman of the Seattle headquarters of GVA Kidder Mathews and Wendy Silverman of Chicago's Creative Retail Leasing LLC.
