Construction starting on 40-story Seattle apartment tower

Developer Holland Partner Group, betting big on the apartment boom, plans to break ground Tuesday on a 40-story tower across Ninth Avenue from Seattle's Paramount Theatre.

The first tenants won't move into the 386-unit project, Seattle's tallest residential skyscraper in at least five years, until late 2014.

By then more than 7,700 other apartments under construction or in the development pipeline will have been completed in greater downtown, according to data from research firm Dupre + Scott Apartment Advisors.

But Holland says it's confident the market won't be overbuilt by the time its 815 Pine project opens for business.

"Demand for housing in these urban, walkable neighborhoods is effectively insatiable for the next two or three years," said Clyde Holland, chairman and CEO of the Vancouver, Wash., company.

What's more, young adults "have no desire for suburbia," Holland said. "They want to walk out their front door and be within walking distance of a dozen restaurants."

Apartments at 815 Pine, which will range from 450-square-foot studios to 1,250-square-foot three-bedroom units, should rent for around $3 a square foot, Parsons said. He and Holland say the building will offer tenants the opportunity to live without a car, or perhaps with one rather than two.

The facades of the above-ground garage floors facing Ninth Avenue and Pine Street will feature LED-backlit glass "art walls" with shifting colors -- a reference to the light and color of the historic Paramount and shops farther down Pine Street, Parsons said.

In addition to 815 Pine, Holland has four apartment projects with a total of more than 1,000 units under construction or about to break ground in South Lake Union.

Three are on Dexter Avenue North. Two of them should be completed in October and March, respectively, Parsons said, and Holland expects to start building the third in days.

The fourth project, at 1201 Mercer St., should break ground early next month after Holland's purchase of the site closes, Holland said.

Another developer broke ground on another big apartment complex last week. Avalon Bay Communities said its 283-unit AVA University District complex, at 12th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 47th Street, should be finished late next summer.

Eric Pryne: epryne@seattletimes.com

or 206-464-2231

Eric Pryne Seattle Times business reporter

Eric Pryne
Seattle Times business reporter