Archinect - News

Seattle's new Rainier Square Tower topped out at 850 feet

2019-08-23T15:18:00-04:00

[...] the Erection Co. topped out Seattle’s 850-ft-tall Rainier Square Tower, with its radical composite steel frame dubbed “speed core,” in only 10 months. Steel erection began last October in the lowest basement. The retail-office-residential building is on course for substantial completion next Aug. 13, according to Andy Bench, project manager for the developer, Wright Runstad & Co.

The NBBJ-designed Rainier Square Tower recently became Seattle's new second-tallest skyscraper after construction height passed 772 feet. Now its developer, Wright Runstad & Company, also celebrated the structure's official topping out at a height of 850 feet.

Today we celebrated the Rainier Square Topping Out in Seattle! Everybody involved with the project signed the final beam and after a couple speeches, it was raised up and fitted into its spot. A great milestone for Rainier Square! pic.twitter.com/YC4mkEK7ZP
— Wright Runstad & Co. (@WrightRunstad) August 15, 2019

"The core, surrounded by a conventional steel frame, consists of a modular sandwich system of cross-tied steel-plate walls, field-filled with concrete," explains Engineering News-Record the unusually fast construction method. "The modules were fabricated by the Supreme Group. The system requires no rebar and no formwork."

Final completion of the 1.7-million-square-foot mixed-use tower is scheduled for mid-August 2020.

...

Seattle's second-tallest skyscraper is almost complete

2019-08-01T20:38:00-04:00

On Friday, as construction crews added another layer of steel to the building, the skyscraper passed 772 feet, the height of Seattle’s former second tallest building, 1201 Third Avenue. Construction crews are expected to top out Rainier Square Tower at 850 feet later this month, according to a spokesperson for Wright Runstad, the building’s developer. Columbia Center, at 937 feet, is the only building taller in Seattle.

NBBJ-designed Rainier Square Tower will be a 1.7-million-square-foot "mix of ground-floor retail, underground parking, 722,000 square feet of office space, and 200 luxury apartments." Upon completion, it will become the seventh-tallest building on the west coast.

Amazon reverses plan to move into under-construction Seattle tower

2019-03-04T19:06:00-05:00

Amazon is abandoning a prominent downtown Seattle office project 10 months after it threatened to do so if the city imposed a new business tax. [...] Amazon confirmed Wednesday it will not occupy the 722,000 square feet it had leased in the Rainier Square tower under construction at Fifth Avenue and Union Street. The lease was one of the biggest in Seattle history — enough space to hold at least 3,500 employees and perhaps up to 5,000.

Sounds familiar, said Long Island City.

Aerial view of construction progressin February 2019. Image: Rainier Square.

Designed by NBBJ, the 58-story mixed-use Rainier Square tower is currently under construction right next to Minoru Yamasaki’s famous Rainier Tower in downtown Seattle and will win the title of second-tallest tower in the Pacific Northwest once finished next year.

Rendering of the 850-foot (260-meter) tall tower at night. Image: Rainier Square.