Seattle’s 2+U to Sport an Urban Village

SEATTLE—Skanska unveiled additional design details for the three-level pedestrian-focused Urban Village at 2+U, its 38-story, 686,000 square-foot class-A office tower currently under construction downtown. The developer and its design team, led by Pickard Chilton, worked with Graham Baba Architects and the Swift Company to create the Urban Village, an open-air retail experience that will serve as a public gathering space that fuses local retail, art, culture and nature.

The Urban Village spans approximately 24,000 square feet of covered, open and outdoor space under 2+U’s office tower. With five access points, including the refurbished alley off University Street and two access points from First and Second Avenues, the Urban Village also includes 16,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, a more than 220-foot long structural GeoWall made from local soils, and approximately 1,100 square feet of arts and cultural space in the newly named Studio. With construction nearly complete at 2+U, Skanska plans to open the Urban Village to the public in late August.

“Our intense collaboration with Pickard Chilton, Graham Baba and Swift Company created a compelling destination for both our tenants at 2+U, as well as downtown residents, workers and visitors,” said Murphy McCullough, Skanska executive vice president. “The Urban Village will provide the downtown community with the best the city has to offer that seamlessly combines the natural environment with its urban surroundings. With its mix of local fare and shops, as well as gathering places for business or pleasure, we are proud to deliver this truly unique amenity to the community.”

The Urban Village design approach was unconventional. Skanska empowered its retail and landscape architects to help shape the design, in partnership with Pickard Chilton. Pickard Chilton not only developed the lift at the 2+U office tower to create the Urban Village, but it also successfully assembled the design visions of Seattle-based architect, Graham Baba, and Swift Company to bring the Urban Village to life.

Graham Baba, which specializes in unique retail and commercial spaces, worked with Skanska to design the retail spaces throughout the Urban Village to accommodate multiple food and beverage offerings, and boutique retailers along First Avenue. Swift Company, the landscape architect, is well-known for successfully crafting projects to reflect the nature of the region.

A central design feature of 2+U is the podium tower lifted 85 feet above ground, which requires significant structural support. After much exploration, Skanska chose a structurally insulated earth wall called the GeoWall. Resembling the multi-hued walls of Discovery Park or Whidbey Islands’ cliffs, the GeoWall is built from local soils from the Pacific Northwest. Invented by SIREWALL, Skanska’s GeoWall at 2+U is the first in Seattle and one of the largest of its kind in the world. The GeoWall curves through the Urban Village, starting at 2 feet in height and ending at more than 30 feet, spanning the entire three-level Urban Village.

Another distinctive design element of the Urban Village is the Studio, an 1,100 square-foot multi-use arts space on the third level of the community space, where local emerging artists and performers can create and perform in celebration of the rich cultures of the Pacific Northwest. Honoring its commitment to provide a unique public benefit to the community as a required part of the development project, Skanska will offer use of this amenity to the arts community for free in perpetuity.

The Urban Village will also include other unique public spaces including the Square, which will feature local art installations and event programming, and the Lookout, where office tenants, shoppers and visitors can take in views of the Puget Sound.

“When thinking about our approach for the Urban Village’s ‘Studio’ arts and culture space, we heard pretty consistently from the arts community about a lack of smaller, affordable places to gather, practice and perform,” McCullough tells GlobeSt.com. “Our city’s larger, institutional arts groups in particular encouraged us to look beyond their needs and create space for emerging artists and disadvantaged communities, which also aligned with what we heard from the city’s arts and culture department.”

Skanska engaged community stakeholders in the planning stages of 2+U to create a building that adds immediate value to tenants and the surrounding community. Located at the corner of Second Avenue and University Street, the building is adjacent to Seattle Art Museum and Benaroya Hall, steps from the new waterfront. Through its thoughtful design, 2+U becomes a connection linking the new waterfront, Pioneer Square and surrounding downtown neighborhoods.

Other Skanska developments in the Seattle area include Stone34, the global headquarters for Brooks Sports, which was the first project to meet Seattle’s requirements for the city’s Deep Green Pilot Program, making it one of the greenest buildings in the region. At 400 Fairview, Skanska delivered headquarters offices for Tommy Bahama, Impinj and Car Toy’s/Wireless Advocates, and assembled a Market Hall with mix of local retailers as well as a rooftop restaurant. Skanska also developed Alley 111, a 260-unit multifamily project with 6,000 square feet of retail in Bellevue.

With 3.4 million square feet of new construction in the development pipeline, both availability and asking rents increased with the start of 2019, according to a report by Savills. Amid strong demand for large blocks as well as new and top-tier space, availability will be chipped away at quickly. The addition of new space coupled with scarcity of large options is also placing upward pressure on asking rents. Overall rents increased 17% year-over-year to $38.85 per square foot, while class-A asking rents increased 12.6% during the same period to $47.33 per square foot, says the report.