Lender Hits Pause Button on 1.5 MSF Pioneer Square Mixed-Use Project

By Alex Girda, Associate Editor

A project billed as the largest transit-oriented development on the West Coast is on hold while the construction lender, Pacific Life Insurance Co., completes a document review, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported. The pause marks a bump in the road for the 1.5 million-square-foot project, which officials regard as the cornerstone of hopes to rejuvenate the Pioneer Square neighborhood.  

Located on a 3.85-acre northern portion of the former Kingdome stadium parking lot, the proposed project site is next to Century Link Field, home of the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks. Another element that makes redevelopment attractive to both city officials and the developer, Daniels Real Estate, is the site’s proximity to the King Street station regional transit hub. North Lot would create a walkable neighborhood with ready access to bus and rail transportation, the project’s backers say.

At a ceremonial groundbreaking in September, former Seattle Mayor Charles Royer stated that North Lot “will bring the most new construction to Pioneer Square since the rebuilding from the Great Seattle Fire of 1889.”  All told, the project would include as many as 800 units of mixed-income housing, 420,000 square feet of office space and 35,000 square feet of retail.  The first phase includes a 197-unit residential tower as well as 16,000 square feet of retail space.