Regardless, Kemper's 28-story Lincoln Square office tower will be complete first, in mid 2007, in part due to the fact that the base of the tower had to be built as part of the already completed retail podium it will rise above. Schnitzer's 875,000-sf Bravern development, slated to break ground in mid-2006 along with EOP's project and open in late 2008, will include two office buildings totaling 745,000 sf--one with 248,000 sf on 13 floors and the other 497,000-sf on 23 floors--separated by a 130,000-sf retail building with upscale restaurants and retailers.

Schnitzer has not said whether it will move forward with the office portion of its project on a speculative basis. Information on the timing and requirements of the other two planned office projects was not immediately available Friday morning.

EOP's City Center Plaza will be directly adjacent to the Bellevue Transit Center and near Interstates 405 and 90. Plans for the building include efficient floor plates averaging 22,000 sf, 18,000 sf of ground floor retail space, a conference center and a parking ratio of up to 3.3:1,000 sf.

City Center East will have a large atrium-style lobby offering curbside valet parking. The translucent, neutral-toned glass curtain wall will offer views of Lake Washington, Mt. Rainier and the Cascade Mountains. The design also includes a roof-top deck on the 26th floor, and two exterior plazas on the third and fourth floors.

Wright Runstad & Company will serve as the development manager for City Center West. NBBJ is the architect and Turner Construction as the project's general contractor. In addition, John Black and Jason Furr of the Broderick Group will serve as leasing agents for the building, working closely with Equity Office's in-house leasing team headed by Susan Murphy, vice president of leasing and Roger Wright, managing director of leasing.

Lease rate for City Center East and all of the planned new buildings will have to be in the mid-to-high $30s per sf per year make the projects pencil. That's $5- to $10 per sf above the going rate for existing class A space Downtown.

Equity Office's investment strategy includes developing Class A office projects in the company's targeted growth markets, where it owns a large concentration of properties, and where the company can leverage its size and scale. Equity Office owns eight office buildings in the Bellevue CBD totaling 2.6 million sf, or 37% of the market.