46 story mixed use at Fifth and Stewart

Even more inventory coming. From the DJC, 46-story mixed-use tower eyed for site at Fifth and Stewart ($):

By LYNN PORTER
Journal Real Estate Editor
An application for design review has been filed with the Seattle planning department for a 46-story hotel/residential/retail project at Fifth Avenue and Stewart Street across from the Westin Seattle.

As planned, the project at 1903 Fifth Ave. will have 175 hotel rooms, 190 residential units, about 13,000 square feet of retail and 250 underground parking stalls.

An early design guidance meeting has been set for 7 p.m. on Feb. 27 at City Hall, in Room L280.

It was unclear Friday who the developer is. But the applicant contact is Steven Gestetner, a vice president with Multi Capital, a privately held New York City investment banking firm that owns the site. The project architect, Ismael Leyva Architects of New York, lists Multi Capital as its client. Bumgardner of Seattle is listed as the architect’s agent.

The site is one of three parcels on the block of Fifth between Virginia and Stewart streets that Multi Capital bought for $15 million from the Seattle Monorail Project last year.

Gestetner didn’t return a call for comment Friday. He said recently that the Fifth and Stewart site — now a parking lot — would likely be the first of the three developed. However, he also said he didn’t see construction of any of the sites moving forward during this development cycle. “There’s a lot of supply coming on. We probably want to look at the next wave.”

Alan Justad, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Planning and Development, said no residential building has been constructed to this height in downtown Seattle. But he said other planned projects are taking advantage of recent zoning changes allowing for taller buildings.

“This is definitely part of the new generation of residential towers,” he said.

Those projects put housing near jobs, helping to reduce commutes and pollution, he said.

“This is smart growth at work,” said Justad.

Among the super-tall buildings on the horizon is the 39-story Olive 8 at Olive Way and Eighth Avenue. The developer, Seattle-based R.C. Hedreen Co., has said it will be the tallest residential tower in the city when it opens in the summer of 2008.

The 38-story Fifteen Twenty-One Second Avenue condo project is under construction at Second Avenue, between Pike and Pine streets. It is an Opus Northwest and William Justen project.

Planned projects include one by British Columbia-based Embassy Development Corp. The company has said it intends to start construction this year on the first of two 40-story condo towers on a full block between Fifth and Sixth avenues and Battery and Bell streets.

Also, Seattle-based Fana Capital Corp. and the Executive Group of Vancouver, B.C., have said they are planning a 45-story condo/boutique hotel at Eighth Avenue and Pine Street.