Construction Strike Affects The Bravern, Bellevue Towers, City Center Plaza

According to a Seattle Times report, about 500 union fire-sprinkler installers have gone on strike in the Seattle area. This has affected a few Downtown Bellevue projects including The Bravern, Bellevue Towers, and City Center Plaza.

Local fire-sprinkler contractors have been striking since Tuesday, when their contracts expired. Prior to the strike, bargaining had been going on for about a month to reach a contract.

Currently no negotiations are scheduled, but those close to the matter are hoping for a resolution next week.

Bellevue Towers Tops Out Top Floor

The city's new tallest peak in town has arrived! Bellevue Towers had their "Topping Off Ceremony" Wednesday afternoon, celebrating the freshly poured concrete on the 43rd story of the South Tower building.

The views from the top are absolutely breathtaking. From this vantage point, there are views of Lake Washington, downtown Seattle, and the Cascade & Olympic mountain ranges.

To help celebrate this milestone, the Mayor of Bellevue, Grant Degginger was on hand congratulating the Bellevue Towers team on such a fabulous feat and accomplishment.

This event signifies the last pouring of concrete, but residents won't start moving in until November of this year. The 540 unit condo building currently has over one third of the building sold.

View King 5 Video of the event

Purple Café Coming to Bellevue Towers, and More!

In a press release today, Bellevue Towers announced that there will be three restaurants occupying their retail space. The most exciting of those announcements comes with the news that locally owned, Purple Café and Wine Bar, will open their 4th location in the area at the base of Bellevue Towers in Downtown Bellevue. Owner of Purple Café, Larry Kurofsky has leased 16,000 square feet, almost all of the Bellevue Towers retail for three restaurants.

Purple Café will occupy 6,200 square feet of street-level retail space. The wine bar will offer 70 different wines by the glass. The Seattle location, if you have not yet been, features a very stylish 20-foot wine tower surrounded by a circular bar.

In addition to Purple Café, Barrio, which offers "simple and seasonal Northwest style to inspired traditional Mexican dishes," was also announced. A third retail location, whose name wasn't announced today, will offer fresh-baked goods, espresso, tea, lunch, desserts, and drinks.

Purple Café is scheduled to open in Novemeber of this year. Barrio and the third retail space are slated for a later open of January 2009.

New Renderings of Bellevue Towers Urban Garden

The Urban Garden at Bellevue Towers, located between the two towers, will be 70 feet above street level and will feature half an acre of eco-landscaped greenery.

The private park will be exclusive to Bellevue Towers residents and their guests.

Featured within the park is an outdoor fireplace, water feature, pet areas, walking paths, and a terrace with views of downtown Seattle.

The Urban Garden at Bellevue Towers gives this condo development yet another thing to differentiate it from the others.

Bellevue Towers Onward and Upward

If you've looked up lately while driving around Downtown Bellevue, you might have noticed the two large residential condominiums filling the sky. These quickly rising structures belong to Bellevue Towers.

When complete, the South Tower of Bellevue Towers will reach 450 feet tall, and will be the highest peak in all of Bellevue. Currently the vertical construction on the two towers is complete up to floor 33. If you think that is high, just wait...they have about 10 more floors to build.

This massive project demands as many as 600 workers at one time to ensure the expected completion date of April 2009, with homeowners to move in as early as November 2008. With 199 unique floor plans, buyers will enjoy special custom living spaces, unlike other "cookie cutter" condos. Residents of Bellevue Towers will enjoy many luxury amenities, such as an urban garden, fitness center, spa, free valet parking for guests (one of my favorites!), and much more.

The building might be big, but Bellevue Towers and the development team have been making large strides in impacting the environment as little as possible. As preciously reported, when complete, Bellevue Towers' buildings are striving for LEED Gold Certification.

With 540 homes in the air, it will bring a lot more ground traffic into the Downtown area. Homeowners be able to enjoy new retail on the ground floor of Bellevue Towers, which will be able to accommodate 20,000 square feet. According to Bellevue Towers this will translate from anywhere from about 3 - 5 tenants. Bellevue Towers expects to begin announcing tenants within the first quarter of this year.

With less than a year to go before buyers move in, Bellevue Towers is already making a large impact on the Downtown Bellevue skyline.

Tallest Buildings in Downtown Bellevue

There is a great resource for following the height of buildings in the Downtown Bellevue area! A wiki on Wikipedia has kept up with the current building heights, as well as what the projected building heights in the area will be.

Currently One Lincoln Tower is the tallest building coming in at 450ft & 42 floors. Right across the way is Lincoln Square, which is the second tallest building in Bellevue at 412ft.

Looking toward the future Bellevue Towers is projected to match the height of One Lincoln Tower at 450ft tall, sharing the title of tallest building in Bellevue.

The site is a great resource for not only the tallest buildings, but projects under construction, approved, and proposed.

Gerding Edlen: Get used to the newest developer!

Puget Sound Business Journal released an article on the newest developer in Downtown Bellevue. If you've been paying attention, then you'd know that Bellevue Towers (next to the Bellevue Galleria) is going up really quickly! The concrete frames have risen up to at least 20 stories - each, and both are well on their way to being 42 and 43 stories high.

With the Puget Sound region's condo market softening, many might say they won't sell. Just tell that to Realty Trust Group which has sold more than 160 of the first phase's 293 luxury units (the north tower and cetral podium) more than a year before the scheduled completion.

The $500M project that sits at Northeast Fourth Street and 106th Avenue Northeast is being put together by Portland-based Gerding Edlen. In fact, the firm relocated principal Scott Eaton to work out of the Bellevue sales office to oversee the development.

Prices for the units start at about $400,000. According to Columbia Real Estate Group's FatReport tracking local new condo sales, Bellevue Towers units are commanding an average of $675 per square foot.

Not only that, downtown Bellevue will be able to tout the Towers as LEED building with the development team targeting the Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

Bellevue Towers to Release South Tower Inventory in September

With around 80% of the North Tower now sold in pre-sales at Bellevue Towers condominium project, some might be awaiting the release of the South Tower units to go on sale.

Well, wait no longer. September 21st represents the release of the these units. For those of you who waited too long, or couldn't find exactly the right unit in the North Tower, now is your opportunity to jump on this early. Bellevue Towers will not release all the North Towers inventory at once (like the South Tower), but in phases to avoid flooding the market with available units.

The South Tower will include the "5th Floor" and its amenities which include an outdoor fireplace, two screening rooms, a dining room with terrace and kitchen, a reading room, fitness center and spa, weight studio, cardio studio, whirlpool, cold-dip, sauna, steam room and terrace. All Bellevue Towers residences regardless of which tower they have purchased into will have access to these amenities.

The South Tower of Bellevue Towers will represent the tallest building in all of Downtown Bellevue with 43 floors. The North Tower comes in a close tie for second at 42 floors.

Open Vacancy Week, First Up Bellevue Galleria

This week DowntownBellevue.net will focus on commercial real estate vacancies which have high profile locations.

There is no location more painfully vacant than the Bellevue Galleria. Since its opening in 1999 Bellevue Galleria has gone through some major tenants including Tower Records, Hooters, Houlihan's, Ben and Jerry's, The Garage, and more.

With the opening of Lincoln Square Cinemas over a year ago it has made the Bellevue Galleria less attractive for possible tenants in the short term.

Bellevue Galleria's second floor (pictured below) is practically completely abandoned. There are about five retail locations which currently sit empty, which show no promise of life.

The saving grace of Bellevue Galleria will be Bellevue Towers, the condominium project being built next door. The dual towers will bring 558 residences footsteps away. If that isn't a godsend I don't know what is. These upscale residences, which are on track for completion with some of the units in late 2008 will bring ideal clientèle with disposable income ready to spend.

Bellevue Galleria's Tap House has proven its success by recently opening a Downtown Seattle location.

Despite having trouble filling these once undesirable retail locations, I believe the future is very bright. The worst has passed, and there is a lot of money to be made by the soon to be many residents of Downtown Bellevue.

Pictures Taken 7/26

Bellevue Towers Exterior Beginning to Take Shape

While passing Bellevue Towers today, I noticed workers have started adding the first panels of the glass to the exterior of the structure. Bellevue Towers once complete will forever change the Bellevue skyline. The two towering structures with their charming glass exteriors are projected to be complete in 2009.

Photo Taken 7/21

New Project Homeowners Dues

Buying into a new high rise condominium is exciting, but astronomically high homeowner dues can put a damper in the excitement. Here is a list of the homeowners dues (also known as HOD's) in the popular Downtown Bellevue projects:

• Bellevue Towers- $0.50 per sq. ft.*
• Washington Square- $0.37 per sq. ft.*
• The Bravern Signature Residences $0.62 per sq. ft.*
• European Towers $0.50-.60 per sq. ft.*

Average homeowners dues for these projects are $0.51 per sq. ft. Washington Square ranks with the least expensive homeowners dues, while The Bravern Signature Residences upholds the highest monthly fees. It should be noted the amenities differ from project to project, therefore altering the dues.

Some of the amenities offered by these projects include, but are not limited to: gas, water, sewage, garbage, workout facilities, multiple elevators, parks, concierge, spa, common lobby spaces, dining room areas, common area theater room, security employees & systems, cleaning crews, valet parking and more.

A project with $0.51 HOD's and a unit of 1000 sq. ft. will cost $510 a month in addition to your mortgage. Luxurious condominiums come with luxurious prices. What are the amenities worth to you?

*Projected prices from condominium projects, which are subject to change.

Bellevue Towers Update

Bellevue Towers, the 558 condominium dual tower high rise promises to bring the tallest building to Bellevue. The North Tower, which will have 42 stories is now over 75% sold out.

The 43 story South Tower will go on sale in early August. The completion of both towers are on schedule to be partially complete for tenants to start moving in December 2008.

Bellevue Towers is one of the many luxury condo projects currently under development in Downtown Bellevue. The Bravern, Washington Square, and European Tower are of the other highly speculated projects in downtown.

Among the luxurious amenities you would expect in a condo high rise, Bellevue Towers will also be known for its environmentally friendly efforts. When the project is complete, Bellevue Towers will receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification. The roofs of the buildings will have greenery planted to keep it cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The buildings have been designed to maximize the natural light coming in and minimize the use of electricity. Everything down to the type of paint has been strategically chosen to be environmentally friendly and omit less greenhouse gases.

The private park on the fifth floor in between the towers will offer eco-landscaped Urban Gardens, outdoor fireplace, views of the lake, walking paths, and even provides running area for dogs.

Want to live in the heart of Bellevue but don't want to miss the luxuries of a beautiful garden? You can have both at Bellevue Towers!

In the Market for a Downtown Bellevue Condo?

The multitude of cranes in the downtown Bellevue area are furiously working away at completing their construction projects. Many of these projects are luxury condominium high rises. Unless you are constantly driving around the streets of Bellevue, it might be hard to decipher between commercial and residential real estate buildings.

This weekend there will be a Condo Expo in Seattle at the Westin. It will include condo projects from all over the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle Condo 2007 Expo has listed that it will include Bellevue projects including: Bellevue Towers, European Towers, The Bravern Signature Residences, and Washington Square. This is a great opportunity to compare them all out in once place. The Expo runs weekend on May 19th & 20th, tickets are $10.