Leaders Celebrate Groundbreaking of Pioneering Transit-Oriented Office Building in the Heart of Seattle’s University District

Global real estate firm Lincoln Property Company (“LPC”), Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation, University of Washington (“UW”), and Sound Transit celebrated the groundbreaking of the new University District Station Building Wednesday, May 10^th, along with local officials, community leaders, and neighbors. The 266,000-square-foot office building will feature ground-floor retail and amenities, Class-A office space, and a rooftop terrace with spectacular views of the city—all in the center of Seattle’s University District (“U District”).

LPC was selected by UW to develop the project over Sound Transit’s subterranean U District light rail station, which opened in Fall of 2021. Due to its strategic location, the high-density office and retail project will encourage the use of public transit, offering connections to Seattle’s Central Business District, Sea-Tac Airport, and the Eastside market. The station will remain operational during construction.

“We are so fortunate to work with UW and other great partners to deliver an innovative building that embraces best practices in transit-oriented development,” said Alex Aigner, Vice President with LPC. “LPC has a track record of delivering state-of-the-art office space, but this location is special and provides access to transit that is unmatched.”

The office tower location has earned a perfect Transit Score of 100 and a Walk Score of 99. Within walking distance of the UW Campus, the University will occupy five floors of the building with administrative space. Newmark brokers Cavan O’Keefe, Tim O’Keefe, and Jesse Ottele will be leasing the remaining 133,000 square feet of office and retail space. The building is expected to be completed in Q4 of 2024.

“We’ve been working on this site for a number of years, knowing that it would be a catalyst in the ongoing evolution of the U District, and the groundbreaking puts us one huge step closer to bringing this transit-oriented development to life,” said Randy Hodgins, the University of Washington’s Vice President for External Affairs. “With its central location, the building will make mass transit the obvious choice for the 900 UW employees who will work here, reducing single-occupancy vehicle trips and lowering our carbon footprint.”

The project will feature robust health and wellness components, including interconnecting staircases that provide floor-to-floor connections and access to the vertical campus without needing to use the elevators. The amenity deck and rooftop terrace provide open-air elements and will feature unobstructed views of Mt. Rainier, Lake Union, and the Olympic Mountains. The project will also deliver 8,000 square feet of public open space, which will be programmed to be enjoyed by the broader local community.

The U District is a thriving neighborhood that is home to a significant portion of off-campus student housing, cafés, historic performance venues, and other amenities, including the University Book Store, a 123-year-old independent retailer serving UW and the Seattle community.

Following a significant zoning revision in 2017, the U District has supported increased density, with several new towers under construction. The University is also making progress toward a new affordable housing project at the site now known as the Filer Building, a new research and education building known as the W27 site, and a proposed new UW Welcome Center in a collaboration with the University Book Store and UW Alumni Association, alongside new parks and apartment buildings.

“This project is a great example of how our transit-oriented development policy can help create vibrant neighborhoods with direct access to transit,” said Sound Transit CEO, Julie Timm. “With its mix of office and retail space directly above the U District Station, the new tower highlights the value of light rail to bring new opportunities to an already thriving neighborhood, and to make those opportunities easily accessible to anyone in our region.”

“Intercontinental is excited to continue its expansion in the Seattle market with this unique, transit-oriented development that will appeal to a broad range of employers today and well into the future,” said Jessica Levin, Managing Director, West Coast, Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation.

LPC is developing the project with a strong team of local talent, including Perkins&Will serving as the Architect, and GLY as the General Contractor. Additional Seattle-based team members include Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (“GGN”) as the Landscape Architect, KPFF Consulting as the Civil Engineer, and Magnusson Klemencic Associates (“MKA”) as the Structural Engineer. Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation is LPC’s investor partner.

UW is consistently ranked among the top public universities in the world and educates more than 60,000 students across its three campuses.

Seattle is the nation’s 15th largest metropolitan area and has experienced rapid and continued economic growth, fueled by dynamic businesses headquartered in the region—including Amazon, Microsoft, and Starbucks—along with smaller, growing technology and biotechnology firms.

For additional information, including leasing information, please visit www.udsbseattle.com