The 26-story, 583,307 square foot City Center Plaza officially opened on May 19, 2009 when Microsoft took occupancy of floors 2 through 9. The building’s office space is 100% leased to Microsoft and this was the first of their multi-phased moves into the building. City Center Plaza had a partial retail opening on December 1, 2008, when the premier El Gaucho restaurant opened to the public.

The building features a large, well appointed atrium style lobby that opens onto a two and a half acre urban landscaped plaza. The plaza, framed by City Center Plaza and City Center Bellevue, borders the Bellevue Transit Center and provides pedestrian connections to Skyline Tower and NE 4th and 108th to 110th Avenues mid-block.

The landscape design of the plaza offers both dense plantings surrounding private seating and expansive grass areas for a more open, community feel and use. Water features and a metal sculpture designed by Tilton Metalworks will provide visual interest along the pedestrian walkways. The plaza also offers a vehicle path of travel for valet parking for the restaurant and a drop off point for the building.

In addition to the 16,342 square foot El Gaucho restaurant, there are three small retail spaces available in the building: 2,459 square feet in the lobby with plaza access, and 1,025 square feet on Level A, fronting 110th Avenue.

BOMA's 2009 Kilowatt Crackdown Winners
May 18, 2009

Two Wright Runstad & Company buildings and property management teams were recognized by BOMA in the Kilowatt Crackdown competition that ran from November 2007 thru March 2009. Washington Mutual Tower tied for third for the highest energy performance rating as of December 2008, and World Trade Center North took second place for the greatest improvement in energy performance rating over the course of 2008. The ultimate goal of the competition was to show improvement in energy efficiency, using the EPA STAR benchmarking tool to help set and track energy performance. A total of 53 properties entered the competition, representing 18 million square feet. The combined reduction in energy consumption for the 53 buildings was equal to the annual energy consumption of 1,000 households.

Ninth & Jefferson Building – Grand Opening
April 8, 2009

The Harborview Medical Center - Ninth & Jefferson Building celebrated its grand opening with a traditional ribbon cutting on April 8, 2009. Eileen Whalen, Executive Director, Harborview Medical Center gave the opening remarks. Other speakers at the event included Bill Fallon, M.D., Chair, Harborview Medical Center Board of Trustees, and Johnese Spisso, COO for UW Medicine. Dow Constantine, Chair of the King County Council, gave a special thanks to Wright Runstad & Company for helping complete the project on time and under budget. Guests were given the opportunity to tour several floors in the building and glimpse areas that will not be open to the public once the spaces are occupied.

The 14-story, 440,000 square foot building sits between Ninth and Terry Avenues and James and Jefferson Streets. The exterior of the building features a combination of classic “Harborview” brick at the base and granite columns at street level. A glass curtain wall along with metal panels, metal grilles and granite are woven together to enclose the tower. Specialty features and extra capacity built into the loading dock allows the dock to serve the entire Harborview Medical Center campus through a connection tunnel under Jefferson Street.

The front lobby entrance is located on Jefferson Street, facing west towards Ninth Avenue. The pedestrian scaled podium and the set back of the lobby are designed to respect and compliment the existing campus buildings. Retail spaces wrap around the building along Ninth Avenue and James Street and at the corner of Terry Avenue and Jefferson Street. A below grade parking garage provides 640 parking spaces serving the entire Harborview campus.

The Harborview Medical Center - Ninth & Jefferson Building provides state of the art labs for the King County Medical Examiner, Harborview Pathology Department, and the UW School of Medicine. It also houses the King County Superior Court Civil Commitment Court, Neurosurgery and Surgical Spine Clinics, UW Medicine Virology, and numerous other Harborview outpatient clinics, along with five floors of office space for various UW Medicine departments. Several other King County agencies will also occupy space in the building.

The granite floor of the building entry and lobby is the canvas of artist Robert Horner. He created a lunar calendar in inlaid travertine, quartzite and slate that maps the moon’s radiant movement for one complete revolution of the earth around the sun. The building lobby showcases the aerial scuplture Vereinigung by Connie Watts. This large suspended artwork features three animal figures: raven, bear, and wolf. The sculpture reflects the culture of Northwest Coast First Nations.

Washington State Employees Credit Union – Tops Out
January 6, 2009

Wright Runstad & Company celebrated with the Washington State Employees Credit Union (WSECU), the successful topping out of the structural steel at WSECU’s new building in Olympia. Doug Mah, Mayor of Olympia, expressed his thanks to WSECU for its continuing investment in the Olympia area. Kevin Foster-Keddie and Jerry Hendricks spoke on behalf of WSECU and praised the efforts of the Iron Workers Local 86, the general and sub-contractors, and Wright Runstad & Company for making their vision for the WSECU campus come to life.

The campus will be composed of three buildings on adjacent lots. The recently topped out building, HQ2, will be the new headquarters for the Washington State Employees Credit Union. This 123,570 square foot Class A office building is expected to be completed in October 2009. HQ1, WSECU’s existing building, will be renovated after they relocate to the new HQ2. A new Campus Parking Garage (HQ3), located on 10th Avenue and Adams Street, provides 469 parking stalls for HQ1 and HQ2. The garage will open on June 15, 2009.

The new HQ2 building is designed with a combination of scale and detail that is sensitive to the mixed use and historic character of the neighborhood. The exterior walls will contain low E technologically advanced glazing systems that will allow a large amount of natural light to penetrate the space. The ability to maximize daylight into the interior, ties in with the project’s goal of achieving LEED Gold certification.

LEED Certification for Existing Buildings
LEED Criteria Submitted for Existing Buildings

Wright Runstad & Company is in the process of pursuing LEED-Existing Building (LEED-EB) GOLD certifications for two buildings in our own portfolio and two buildings we manage for other owners. Under the LEED-EB program, many facets of building management are evaluated including sustainable site management, water and energy efficiency, environmental quality, and materials and resources. 1200 12th Avenue (formerly Amazon.com Building) recently completed the LEED criteria and submitted for certification. City Center Bellevue is seeking certification for its owner, Beacon Capital Partners, and is currently completing its performance period. We will submit in June for the Gold certification of Park Place on behalf of its owner, Transwestern Investment Co. Additionally, we are completing the LEED criteria for the Gold certification of the Washington Mutual Tower.

Energy Star
WR&C Management Portfolio receive Energy Star Ratings

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Energy Star program offers a proven energy management strategy for new homes and commercial and industrial buildings. This voluntary program is designed to identify and promote energy-efficient products, equipment and systems, in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Using the tools and guidelines offered by Energy Star, building owners and operators can calculate a building’s energy performance and receive an Energy Star rating on a 1 – 100 scale. This program measures current energy performance, sets goals, tracks savings, and rewards improvements. For facilities that achieve a score of 75 or higher, an “Energy Star” is awarded indicating that they are among the top 25% of facilities in the country for energy performance.

Washington Mutual Tower recently received an Energy Star certification from EPA. After an analysis of the building equipment and systems, the EPA scored the property 96 out of 100 possible points. This significant achievement is attributed to management’s proactive preventative and corrective maintenance standards and efficient lamp selection for the building.

Other buildings in our management portfolio with 2008 Energy Star ratings of 80 or higher include World Trade Center – North and Park Place at 83, Edna Lucille Goodrich Building at 87, King Street Center at 88, and Redmond City Hall at 91.