Originally, the 2.5-acre site at the intersection of Denny Way and Westlake Avenue North have a 238,000-sf office tower and two residential towers containing 237 luxury condominiums encircling 90,000 sf of retail space anchored by a 48,000-sf QFC grocery store. That was December 2000, however, when the office market was still healthy.

Under the proposed redesign, Don Milliken tells GlobeSt.com say the project would look much the same, except a skinnier hotel tower would replace the planned office tower and part of one condo tower that stuck out over a portion of the two-level retail entrance to the property would become 30,000 sf of office space--the only office space now planned for the project. As well, where the office tower stuck out over the other side of the retail entrance to the development, a health club and spa would be added.

"While the office decline cost us time and money having to redo that portion of our development, we are actually ending up with a far superior development in a number of ways," says Milliken. "The inclusion of a five-star hotel and a day spa would dramatically improve the project's ambiance, provide a nice amenity for the emerging South Lake Union Neighborhood and, because the hotel tower is skinnier than the office tower, substantially improve the view corridors for residents of the condominium towers."