Situated next to the Meydenbauer Convention Center in Bellevue's CBD, the six-acre Bravern development includes 750,000 sf of office space in two high-rise office towers, which have been fully preleased; 305,000 sf of luxury retail space, 125,000 sf of which will become a Neiman Marcus store; and two 29-story residential towers containing 456 for-sale apartments. The office building will be delivered in mid-2008; the remainder of the development is scheduled for delivery between then and the end of 2009.

Investcorp says that per the JV agreement it will provide a majority of the project equity while Schnitzer West will provide most of the remaining necessary equity and oversee the completion of the project. Construction financing is being provided by HSH Nordbank. The retail leasing assignment is in the hands of Creative Retail Leasing LLC and GVA Kidder Matthews. The Broderick Group had the leasing assignment for the office, which was fully preleased by Microsoft back in April.

Schnitzer West was known as Schnitzer Northwest until May, when the company changed its name to reflect its broadening geographic focus. As Schnitzer Northwest, the company developed and acquired some three million sf of office, condominium, retail and industrial space primarily in the Puget Sound region. As Schnitzer West, the company now also will be looking for opportunities in Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco.