Two new mixed-use buildings at the Broadway Business District's main intersection are scheduled for fall and winter completion next year, according to Kennedy Wilson Properties, the project developer.
The two buildings, tentatively named 130 Harvard Avenue East and 133 Broadway East for their eponymous addresses, take up lot formerly occupied by a US Bank branch at the corner of Broadway and East Olive Way and a parking lot on Harvard Avenue East at Olive Way.
These are part and parcel of a relative building boom in Capitol Hill's Broadway District, with an addition to Seattle Central Community College nearly complete, a mixed-use Walgreen's and residential building ready to go up at Broadway and East Pine Street, the Pantages residential development at Harvard Avenue and East Denny Way, and plans in the works for the old Safeway property at East Mercer Street and Broadway East and the former QFC location across Broadway to the west.
"This is just one piece of what's happening here," said Richard Muhlebach, senior managing director for Kennedy Wilson Properties Northwest. He predicted a significant renaissance in the Broadway area in the next three years.
The Broadway building is designed for a new US Bank branch with a corner entrance, a second retail space of 800 square feet facing Broadway and another of 500 square feet facing East Olive Way. US Bank is a partner with Kennedy Wilson in the project.
Above the ground floor will be three levels of apartments. Those floors will feature 18 apartments, three two-bedroom apartments and 15 one-bedroom apartments.
The Harvard building will offer two retail spaces - 1,800 square feet and 2,400 square feet - facing East Olive Way, and one live/work unit on the ground floor facing Harvard Avenue East.
"That will be basically a one-bedroom unit with an area for an office," explained Muhlebach. The unit is intended for an artist or service building.
Five residential floors will rise above the Harvard building's ground floor with 85 apartments. Those will be 40 studio apartments, 25 one-bedroom apartments and 20 two-bedroom apartments.
Underground parking completes the buildings, with slightly more than one space per residential unit: 109 spaces for 103 units.
The Harvard building will also host common amenities for the residents such as a large, landscaped rooftop deck and an exercise room. Residents of both buildings will have access to the shared areas. Muhlebach explained that if an alley did not run between the Broadway and Harvard lots the project would have been built as a single structure.
The smaller Broadway building is expected to be ready for occupancy at the end of next summer. Completion for the Harvard building is expected in December 2006.
Dricoll Architects has designed the buildings to be complimentary, but not identical. The Harvard building will have brick facing on its ground floor and second story to complement the architecture of the brick apartment building on the other corner of Harvard Avenue East and East Olive Way.
Some of the Harvard building apartments will have patios and "decklets." A decklet, Muhlebach explained, is smaller than a balcony. There is no room for furniture, but it is a place to stand and take the air.
"We thought that if they were identical it would be too much repetition when you were walking down the street," Muhlebach said.
Rental prices for the apartments have not yet been decided, though Muhlebach said preliminary thought is in the $2-per-square- foot range. He said the top two floors of the Harvard building will have spectacular views of downtown, Elliot Bay and the Olympic Mountains.
Except for US Bank none of the retail spaces is leased. Muhlebach said it is till a bit early for that.
"We're just in the looky-loo stage right now," Muhlebach said.
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