No New Timeline for Avalon at Madison

SEATTLE-AvalonBay Communities remains undecided as to when it will resume construction of Avalon at Madison, its $49-million mixed-use tower at Eighth Avenue and Madison Street, just east of Downtown Seattle in the First Hill neighborhood.

The 16-story building has been designed to include 154 luxury apartments, a 12,800-sf grocery store and roughly 39,000 sf of office space. The average apartment rent in the building was expected to be about $1,990. Construction, which got under way in the third quarter of 2001, was scheduled for completion during the second quarter of 2003.

Sam Fuller, AvalonBay’s VP of construction, says everything is now up in the air, including the amount of office, residential and retail space the building will hold. “From our perspective, we need better visibility of the economy and the rental market,” says Fuller. “Until we get a clearer picture, I don’t think we are ready to restart.”