MAIN WEST
Seattle
BEST PROJECT
Sent by: GLY
OWNER: Vulcan Real Estate
LEADING DESIGN COMPANY: Graphite Design Group
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: GLY
CIVIL/STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING: Coughlin Porter Lundeen
MEP ENGINEERING: Stantec
DESIGN ARCHITECT: Compton Design Office
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: GGN
GEOTECHNICAL CONSULTANT: geoengineers
DESIGN/MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION/PLUMBING: McKinstry Co.
ELECTRICAL DESIGN / CONSTRUCTION: Prime Electrical Services LLC
FIRE PROTECTION: Western States Fire Protection
SUBCONTRACTORS: A & B Fabricators Inc.; Acoustical Design Inc.; Advanced shaping solutions; Air Placed Concrete Specialist Inc.; All New Glass Inc.
With three towers and more than 1 million square feet of space, this mixed-use office and retail development is reshaping Seattle’s skyline. The buildings share a common podium and 34,000 square feet of retail space. Two of the towers, north and south, are 17 stories high and the central tower is 16 stories.
Each building has its own offset central design that preserves views of the surrounding mountains, minimizes views between buildings and maximizes natural light. A total of 80,000 Millennium Tiles have been installed across the three towers, covering the same area as 1.5 football pitches, and each hand-laid tile was placed individually. All three towers have a unique facade design, graphite gray podium walls and white tower fins that emphasize the pattern of each tower.
Photo by Pacific Coast Surveys
The interior faces feature a smooth structural sealing glass (SSG) curtain wall system with gray glazing. The podium glass is clear, while the common platinum-colored curtain wall frame in all towers provides structural consistency.
West Main connects Bellevue’s Old Town to downtown with a promenade plaza, significantly expanding the city’s walkability. As the focal point of Bellevue’s urban landscape, the three buildings bridge the urban core with the suburban environment through strategic landscaping and pedestrian-friendly exteriors. To compensate for a 20-foot change in grade from north to south, a large central plaza is located at the site’s low-water point.
Photo by Benjamin Benschneider
With such a large project, precision was crucial. An initial BIM execution plan facilitated a successful crash detection process on seven models, resulting in zero rework at the facility. The team spent approximately 1.5 years on modeling efforts, which streamlined significant design changes, such as adding operable windows and removing natural gas lines.
Leveraging Versatile’s CraneView technology, which attaches to a tower crane hook and measures thousands of construction data points with each pickup cycle, the team also identified areas to improve site logistics and the movement of crane, improving both schedule and safety.
Photo by Pacific Coast Surveys
To allow for maximum future flexibility, the mechanical and electrical systems are bifurcated, allowing for easy expansion and construction. Although the towers are joined by a common podium and garage, each tower acts as its own building.
Firefighter Air Replenishment Systems (FARS) are strategically located in buildings to quickly refill tanks that are already part of normal firefighter equipment. While cities in 21 other states require FARS, West Main is the first in the Puget Sound region to mandate FARS on all new high-rise buildings and transportation tunnels over 300 feet long that they applied for building permits starting in 2018.
West Main was completed on time and on budget in September 2023, and the project is pursuing LEED Gold certification.
