A developer has proposed a residential tower to replace a closing Ross Dress for Less on a struggling stretch of Third Avenue in downtown Seattle, the latest sign of rejuvenation for the area.
General contractor BNBuilders and architect Clark Barnes are working with the owners of 301 Pike St. on a redevelopment plan after Ross closes its store on Jan. 16, after 30 years at the location.
It's the latest business casualty in an area plagued for years by street crime, an increase in the homeless population and a decline in office workers and other visitors.
The partnership, called Building Reimagined, unveiled plans that call for a mass timber tower with 340 apartments averaging just under 800 square feet to replace the 1940s-era building. The tower would have above-grade and underground parking anchored by up to 10,000 square feet of retail space.
The proposal comes as downtown is getting more lively with visitors — in part due to policies implemented over the past year by Amazon, downtown’s largest employer — and other large businesses requiring staff to work full time in corporate offices.
About 2.7 million people visited downtown Seattle in November, including workers, tourists and local residents — roughly even with pre-pandemic numbers in 2019, according to monthly data from the Downtown Seattle Association.
Other promising signs include Barnes & Noble's planned return to downtown Seattle after signing one of the area’s largest retail leases since the bookseller closed its downtown store in early 2020. The new location at Tishman Speyer’s 29-story 520 Pike St. office tower is a couple of blocks from the closing Ross store.
Ross, which opened at the location in 1996, is the latest retail business to close in the vicinity of an area known locally as "The Blade," a section of Third Avenue between Pike and Pine streets known for decades as an open-air drug market and crime hotspot.
Other retailers that have closed over the past five years in the area include The North Face, Vans, Saks, Columbia Sportswear, Nike and several Starbucks locations.
Building Reimagined has proposed several other projects across the Puget Sound region, including a 16-story mass-timber building in the historic A.E. Doyle Building near Pike Place Market.