Merrill Lynch will reportedly fill its 56,000-sf of space in the "Nordstrom building" with its Howard Johnson actuarial division, which is now located in 14,000 sf of the Washington Mutual Tower at 1201 Third Avenue, and in 55,000 sf in the Second and Seneca Building. Merrill Lynch sources were unavailable Monday to confirm that in addition to the new space, it plans to maintain its WaMu office and 22,000 sf in Second and Seneca.

1700 Seventh is a joint venture between upscale national retailer Nordstrom and Clise Properties Inc., a property management and real-estate development company. Both companies are headquartered here. Clise is said to have a 51% controlling interest. Nordstrom's new headquarters will occupy 400,000 sf of the tower. Though an exact development cost was not available, local sources peg the project in the vicinity of $100 million.

Seattle's privately-owned Sellen Construction is the general contractor. Founded in 1979, its 2000 construction volume was in excess of $350 million, according to Sellen's Web site. The architect is Callison Architecture of Seattle and Hong Kong. Callison's numerous projects include the US Bank Center, Microsoft's World Headquarters, and Carillon Point locally, and the Guro Center Complex in Seoul, Korea and the Bank of China building in Shanghai.