Owner/developer:
National Office Partners (Hines and CalPERS), Seattle

Building management:
Hines, Seattle

Architect of record:
Kendall/Heaton Associates, Houston

Design architect:
Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, Seattle

General contractor:
PCL Construction Services, Bellevue

Structural engineer:
Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire, Seattle

Mechanical, electrical, plumbing engineer:
Flack + Kurtz, San Francisco

Civil engineer:
Coughlin Porter Lundeen, Seattle

With office vacancy rates in downtown Seattle hovering around 15 percent, the last thing it needs is a new high-rise, right?

Rob Hollister begs to differ. “From a vacancy rate standpoint, (the IDX Tower) is not going to have a significant impact at all,” the Hines executive said.

With much of the space already leased, Hollister said, the remaining 145,000 square feet will make up just a tiny fraction of the city’s office market when it comes on line.

If anything, the new high-rise will add a sense of vibrancy to Seattle’s downtown, he said. “As people go through the building and see the tenants moving in, it will remind them of reasons to be in downtown Seattle,” Hollister said.

Tim O’Keefe at Colliers International echoed that sentiment.

“It is the first major tower to be built downtown in some time, and it shows the city is continuing to show growth,” said O’Keefe, whose real estate brokerage represents Hines at IDX.

Prospective tenants have responded well to the building, O’Keefe said, particularly now that they can see it from the inside.

The Downtown Seattle Association also sees the project as a plus for the city. “We’re excited about any growth in Seattle,” said marketing director Sylvia McDaniel.

“Even though our vacancy rate has climbed,” she said, “we’re very optimistic that the economy will rebound in 2003.”

A healthy, growing downtown will encourage other companies to migrate there, McDaniel said, citing Bellevue-based Corbis’ move to the Dexter Horton Building on Second Avenue.

“They look at downtown as a great place to do business,” she said.

Location: Fourth Avenue and Madison Street, Seattle

Height: 512 feet, 40 stories (and two underground)

Size: 846,588 square feet

Project cost: $96 million

Groundbreaking: Sept. 19, 2000

Opening: Substantial completion on Oct. 15; first tenants in January

Major tenants: IDX Systems Corp., Preston Gates & Ellis, Deloitte & Touche, UBS PaineWebber, Regal Financial Bank

Occupancy: 82 percent leased

Rent: $28-$42 per square foot

• The IDX Tower is Seattle’s first downtown high-rise office building to be completed since Key Tower in 1990.
  
  

• Standing at 512 feet, IDX is now the city’s 11th-tallest high-rise —2 feet shorter than Rainier Tower, but 19 feet taller than 1000 Second Avenue.
  
  

• The tower’s 8,130-square-foot childcare facility, run by Bright Horizons Family Solutions, will be the largest downtown.
  
  

• The IDX Tower has 16 elevators and 672 parking spaces.