[moosanova]

Maybe it's just me, but what exactly is building a 17 story tower where only one unit per floor going to acheive???

I already know what the answer is going to be, and the developer of this project is apparently catering to the super-rich clientle'

I'm guessing starting prices are going to be higher than 5 million on this particular project.... we'll have to wait and see i guess!!!!!!

[zilfondel]

???
where/what/who

is this an actual project in Portland? Never heard about anything like this.

[seaskyfan]

I think it's in Bellevue.

[zilfondel]

ohh... Moos doesn't have his location on his profile. Bit confused, I was.

[moosanova]

This project is located in Bellevue, Wa and is in the vicinity of the future Bellevue Towers !!!!!!!

[Skian]

about 8 blocks from Bellevue Towers.
It will be on a small single family lot in downtown Bellevue, across the street from the library.

[65MAX]

Cool. A point tower for Bellevue. How big are the units/floorplates? Any renderings?

[MuffinPost]

I thought there was a thread on this already?

Anyway, there was a lengthy piece on this in the PI a few days ago:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/312605_european21.html

Condo Buyers Offered a Floor of their own

By AUBREY COHEN
P-I REPORTER

Bellevue's European Tower promises continental urban living, but its developers say the building's one-home, one-floor concept is the only way to get some Americans to accept a condo.

"You basically have to take their suburban rambler and stack it 200 feet in the air," said Michael Orbino, the project's living consultant.

Eugene Gershman, chief operating officer for developer GIS International Group, put it another way: "It is the condo for people who wouldn't otherwise buy a condo."

One reason the 16-story European Tower has just one home per floor is its site, which at a paltry 5,500 square feet is smaller than most single-family house lots. Each floor is about 2,700 square feet.

As condo buildings take up larger sites in Seattle, Bellevue and other cities, the region could see more little towers.

"These small sites, there's a lot of them left over as cities developed," said Tom Morton, lead architect on the tower for CollinsWoerman, of Seattle.

Matthew Gardner, a local land-use economist who is not affiliated with the project, agreed that such buildings could proliferate in the Seattle area.

"We've seen them back in Boston and New York for quite some time, but they're certainly new on the West Coast," he said. "It's a great concept. I think it'll probably be embraced."

A condo tower can work on such a small site because of its automated parking system, which uses elevators to deliver cars to parking spaces without ramps or drivers, CollinsWoerman principal Mark Woerman said.

Some Seattle buildings already have incorporated elements that will be part of European Tower. The 30-story Icon Tower, in Denny Triangle, for instance, plans automated underground parking for its modest 10,665-square-foot site. Elevators in Belltown's ESCALA will serve just one home per floor -- with four elevators and four units per floor.

The European Tower also is getting attention from other developers, Morton said.

"We've been approached at least twice since this project has become public," he said. "We're becoming kind of de facto small-site experts."

One home per floor means windows on all sides and no meeting neighbors in the hallway or hearing them through the wall.

The elevator, which opens into each home, visits one floor per trip. And, with just 15 units in the building (the developers expect a buyer to combine the top two floors), residents won't run into their neighbors in the lobby much either.

"Typically, you probably won't see anybody," Orbino said. A roof deck is the only communal space. Membership in the Harbor Club and one of two nearby fitness centers will be included with each unit.

The layout, small number of homes and cost of nearly $2 million to $4 million-plus each create exclusivity, which developers are marketing by, among other things, requiring a password on the project's Web site to view floor plans, images and a virtual tour.

The tower already has appealed to some prominent executives and athletes, Orbino said, although he declined to identify any. About a quarter of the units are reserved, although the sales center won't open for about a month. The development company, based in Moscow, Russia, expects to break ground this summer and finish in fall 2008.

The "European" in European Tower has to do with the building's modern design, which adheres to the International Style, an architectural movement that goes back to a 1932 architectural exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art.

The façade is mostly white metal and glass, with simple, straight lines. Inside, there's more glass, metal and stone. The homes also feature European fixtures and appliances, including automated curtains and ovens.

Fingerprint readers for the garage, front door and elevators will allow residents to enter and leave without keys.

The building would be a "role model... modern European elegance with a James Bond experience," said J. Lennox Scott, chairman and chief executive of John L. Scott Real Estate, which is selling the homes.

Gershman said the European Tower makes sense in Bellevue because the Eastside has many wealthy people who want to stay, but also downsize from a house without giving up too much space.

But Breffni McGeough, a Windermere Real Estate agent who specializes in high-end homes, said he thought the tower was a good concept in a bad location, as long as there were units available in downtown Seattle.

"To me, downtown Bellevue is empty," he said.

MORE INFORMATION

www.europeantower.com

[NW Mike]

there was a thread on this, maybe eastside projects thread. A Russian Developer is building this Short tower on a small lot and the building will have a automatic parking garage. You pull in and the computer stacks your car in a deep underground garage shelving system. Its the first of its kind in the western states and its one of three in the country. These are popular in europe. The Developer is also planning to build another one like this in Seattle at Denny Triangle. They bought a small 9,960 sf parcel which will start later.
Only for the super rich. There was a piece shown on K5 news and how the garage will work. I only wish it was 40 or more stories.
Read this Article and see the rendering.
http://www.europeantower.com/new/news/djc-big_plans3.22.pdf
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/16430/2004925963318062735_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004925963318062735)

[WESTSEATTLEGUY]

^ what tower are they planning to building around the denny triangle?

[navyweaxguy]

16 stories? The rendering has 20.

[Dougall5505]

I thought the strand in portland had a automatic parking garage

[horatio_the_hermit]

thats the old rendering. The new one has 17. 16 condos.

[Pearl_Steve]

I thought the strand in portland had a automatic parking garage

What I heard from a friend who lived there is that some people have lifts in the garage so that they can lift a small car above their other car, so in an individual spot you have two cars stacked on top of eachother, but it's controlled by the owner and you don't leave it and then the computer takes it away. You'd have to back out one car to get the other one down.

[NW Mike]

:previous: I have seen those before in Hawaii as well. They are great if you have a Miata or a Smart Car.
But this will be like a Deep Hole in the ground with Boxes for each car and the robot gets it for you. Great for Maximum Occupancy. Lovely Idea!:tup:
Here is an example:
http://aycu06.webshots.com/image/13445/2001068845659757110_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001068845659757110)

[destroybananas]

I'm buying one there just for the automatic parking

[Skian]

The Euro tower finally listed 2 of their units (in the NWMLS) and the listings state the sales office opens on May 17th.

[NW Mike]

:previous: thanks for the info

[Skian]

I just visited the sales center.

They plan on breaking ground end of June/early July, and will be finished early 2008.

The penthouse is being called the "Ultimate Penthouse" and will be the top 2 floors and will be around $9.9 million.

[SeattleHusky82]

I just visited the sales center.

They plan on breaking ground end of June/early July, and will be finished early 2008.

The penthouse is being called the "Ultimate Penthouse" and will be the top 2 floors and will be around $9.9 million.

Early 2008?? I've never heard of a high-rise being built in 6 months.

Where is the sales center?

[Skian]

The sales staff told me that they will pour a floor a week, after they raise above the ground.

The sales center is in the First Mutual Building (400 108th Ave NE) on the 6th floor. The office will be open: By Appointment Only. They had a Realtor preview today.

[zilfondel]

Doesn't the finishing and fitting out of the floors take much longer tho?

I've seen towers sit around for months after even the facade has been finished before any occupancy...

[Skian]

I'm not sure if they meant the tower (construction) would be finished or that the units would be ready for occupancy.