Su Plans “Architectural Expression of Bellevue’s Evolution”

A flight to quality by Seattle office tenants could be a boon for Su Development, which plans to build a 23-story apartment tower in Bellevue — now a suburban challenge to the Emerald City.

The locally based developer has filed revised plans for a high-rise at 205 105th Ave NE, the Puget Sound Business Journal and Downtown Bellevue Network reported. It would replace a shuttered sushi restaurant.

The building, dubbed 205 Tower, would contain one of two options — either a 260-foot-tall building with 164 units and 5,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, or a 308-foot building with 173 apartments, with similar retail.

The project, designed by locally based MZA, is “an architectural expression of Bellevue’s evolution,” according to the project narrative.

That evolution, across Lake Washington from Seattle, includes a growing tech hub that’s now home to eBay, Meta, ByteDance, Oracle, Salesforce, Google, Microsoft and a major Amazon campus.

Seattle-based Amazon.com has 14,000 employees in Bellevue and plans to add 11,000 more in the coming years, with downtown poised for more multifamily projects like 205 Tower, according to the Business Journal.

Su, a vertically integrated design-build firm, is known for its architecturally dazzling projects, including a two-tower development at Yesler Terrace in Seattle and Soma Towers in Bellevue.

Its latest project seeks to capitalize on its location along the Grand Connection, a series of projects designed to uplift the pedestrian experience between Meydenbauer Bay Park through Downtown, and across Interstate 405 to an Eastrail multi-use path.

The proposed glass towers at Northeast Second Street and 105th Avenue Northeast contain a sculpted crown atop a five-story podium, with exterior balconies jutting from floor-to-ceiling windows, according to renderings.

The first concept draws on the interaction between water and land, highlighting the contrast between Bellevue’s urban landscape and an adjoining park, according to dbNetwork. The second is based on Pacific Northwest stone outcroppings, with a prominent vertical element.

Su’s project “directly engages” with the Grand Connection with a public plaza along Northeast Second Street, with “retail frontages, seating areas and landscaping to create a dynamic, human-scaled environment,” according to a project filing.

Zoe Wang, project architect for Su, said the company wants to break ground by the end of next year.

Su, founded in 1981 by John Su, built Downtown Bellevue’s first concrete-and-steel condominium building, and has developed more than 2,400 apartments, according to the Business Journal.

— Dana Bartholomew