Month: July 2024

Construction recently began on the 120-room hotel to modernize the historic structure, giving it a second life and ensuring it lasts for generations to come. Operated by Aparium Hotel Group and architecturally designed by The Miller Hull Partnership with interiors by Curioso, the boutique lifestyle hotel will highlight historic character maintained from the building’s 1907 construction, modern guest rooms and amenities, Pioneer Square’s first rooftop bar, and a signature restaurant, fueled by an authentic connection to community and Seattle’s deep-rooted history.

Hotel Westland is a part of RailSpur, a carbon positive micro-district that is positioned to be one of the country’s most significant adaptive reuse developments, which consists of three main historic buildings and the activated alleyways that connect them.

“We’re proud to develop Hotel Westland as the second carbon positive hotel in our portfolio and in the country,” says Grant McCargo, Urban Villages’ Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “The greenest building is one you don’t have to build from the ground up. With adaptive reuse, we’ve modernized the building and honored its heritage, all while minimizing environmental impact.”

“Hotel Westland is the embodiment of history, community, and preservation. We started with an authentic appreciation for Pioneer Square as Seattle’s most intact historic district and are creating an exciting new destination to dine, stay, and play that reflects its original charm,” says Jon Buerge, President and Partner at Urban Villages. “Our goal is that the new hotel, restaurant, and bar will add vibrancy and longevity, benefiting the community as well as our planet.”

Real estate developer Urban Villages plans to open Hotel Westland at 100 S. King St., inside a 1907 building that will become a 120-room hotel with a restaurant, coffee bar, meeting spaces, a penthouse suite for events and an open-air rooftop bar, Pioneer Square’s first.

The environmentally conscious hotel, which plans to sequester the carbon it emits and remove additional carbon from the atmosphere, is the second of its kind in the United States, according to its developer. Urban Villages is also behind Populus, expected to open in Denver next summer. Westland is the developer’s third installment in its Seattle RailSpur complex, a carbon-negative “micro-district” that includes offices at 419 Occidental Ave. and mixed retail-residential spaces at 115 S. Jackson St.. The connecting alleyways will host art, music, and culinary programming, according to Urban Villages representatives. The complex is named for the industrial railways that once ran through the area.

“The goal here is to have as many activities as we possibly can so it’s really activated 18 hours a day, 365 days a year,” Grant McCargo, Urban Villages CEO and founder, said at an event on Wednesday.

Urban Villages, a leading real estate developer and environmental steward, is pleased to announce the summer 2024 opening of Hotel Westland, a carbon positive, adaptive reuse hotel in Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square neighborhood. Construction recently began on the 120-room hotel to modernize the historic structure, giving it a second life and ensuring it lasts for generations to come. Operated by Aparium Hotel Group and architecturally designed by The Miller Hull Partnership with interiors by Curioso, the boutique lifestyle hotel will highlight historic character maintained from the building’s 1907 construction, modern guest rooms and amenities, Pioneer Square’s first rooftop bar, and a signature restaurant, fueled by an authentic connection to community and Seattle’s deep-rooted history.

Hotel Westland is a part of RailSpur, a carbon positive micro-district that is positioned to be one of the country’s most significant adaptive reuse developments, which consists of three main historic buildings and the activated alleyways that connect them.

Adaptive Reuse and A Commitment to Carbon Positivity Urban Villages introduces Hotel Westland – and the entire RailSpur micro-district – as carbon positive following the company’s announcement of Populus, opening in Denver in summer 2024, as the first carbon positive hotel in the United States. With Hotel Westland, Urban Villages is focused on reducing negative effects on the environment through adaptive reuse, energy efficiency, offsite ecological efforts, and renewable energy procurement.

Let’s skip the keg and get straight to the beer. The city’s first tank bar will soon open in the Pioneer Square neighborhood.

The project is spearheaded by James Beard award-winning chef Renee Erickson’s Eat Sea Creatures restaurant company and RailSpur Seattle, an ambitious redevelopment of three historic brick-and-timber warehouse buildings by developer Urban Villages.

Tank bars are popular in Europe, especially in the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. They serve beer directly from large storage tanks instead of traditional kegs, so the beer is fresher. Tank bars also enhance flavor by reducing the need for additional carbon dioxide for dispensing.

Lowlander Brewing will operate the tank bar in the former site of iconic sports bar FX McRory’s on Occidental Avenue. Slated for an early 2025 opening, the venue will feature two culinary options in addition to the new craft brewery: Un Po Tipsy Pizzeria will offer quick, artisanal pizza for those seeking a casual meal, and a new European-inspired eatery that will provide an upscale menu.

RailSpur, named after the railways that once traversed the area, is a new micro-district in Pioneer Square that focuses on preservation, sustainability, and community innovation.

This fall, Hotel Westland will open in the district as the nation’s second carbon-positive hotel, featuring 120 guest rooms, a restaurant, and Pioneer Square’s first rooftop bar.

James Beard Award winner and cookbook author Renee Erickson and her Sea Creatures restaurant group have signed a lease to fill 12,000 square feet on the ground floor and lower level of 419 Occidental Ave. S., in developer Urban Villages’ RailSpur project.

The restaurants include the Lowlander Brewery, Un Po Tipsy Pizzeria and a yet-to-be-named European-style fine dining concept.

“The entire Sea Creatures team could not be more excited to bring our new restaurant concepts to the dynamic RailSpur district,” Sea Creatures co-owner and designer Jeremy Price said in a news release. “Infused with our signature commitment to casual elegance and culinary innovation, these spaces are designed to provide delicious and memorable experiences to sports fans, working professionals, and visitors.” 

One of Seattle’s most celebrated and prolific restaurateurs plans to make a big splash in Pioneer Square: Renee Erickson’s Sea Creatures group, which you may know from such restaurants as the Whale Wins and Bateau, plans to launch not one, not two, but three new restaurants at 419 Occidental Avenue, part of the Railspur development.

Erickson, a James Beard Award–winning chef, has owned restaurants since 1998, when she bought the now-shuttered Boat Street Cafe, but she’s really been on a tear since she opened her Ballard oyster bar the Walrus and the Carpenter in 2008 — her Sea Creatures group now has 10 restaurants, including the doughnut mini-chain General Porpoise. (Sea Creatures also operates Westward, which it acquired in 2018.) Along the way Sea Creatures has established itself as one of Seattle’s most recognizable dining brands — an Erickson restaurant combines a focus on seafood, millennial-friendly soft minimalist design, seasonal menus, and an overall sense that you’re hanging out in the lobby of your coolest friend’s apartment building. 

Sea Creatures restaurants adorn several of Seattle’s cutting-edge real estate developments. Roman-inspired Willmott’s Ghost and the cocktail bar Deep Dive are inside the Amazon Spheres (as is a General Porpoise location you need an Amazon lanyard to access). Erickson’s latest restaurant, the wine bar Lioness, is inside the Shared Roof mixed-use building on Phinney Ridge, a project of developer Chad Dale — who is also a co-owner of Sea Creatures.

Railspur fits the bill of that new-wave Seattle development — it’s a “transformative micro district” of three buildings and a series of alleys that already houses upscale taqueria Tacolisto and the Hotel Westland, which is set to open next year. Railspur is a major component of the post-lockdown revitalization of Pioneer Square that has unfolded as events return to the stadiums and cruise ships return to the nearby waterfront.

Sea Creatures’ new restaurants will add vibrancy to Pioneer Square with an eclectic mix of drinking and dining experiences, including Lowlander Brewery, Un Po Tipsy Pizzeria, and a European restaurant concept with a more sophisticated dinner menu of sustainably-sourced seafood. Led by chef Renee Erickson, Sea Creatures is celebrated for its dedication to culinary excellence, inviting atmospheres, and sustainable sourcing – all of which will be brought to life at RailSpur.

Lowlander Brewery: One-of-a-Kind Tank Bar Experience
Lowlander Brewery is set to redefine the American craft beer experience as one of the pioneers in the emerging trend of tank bars. Among the first tank bars in the U.S., Lowlander Brewery will offer beer afficionados and casual drinkers alike an immersive experience that proudly showcases the brewing process firsthand, then dispenses beer directly from specialized tanks to patrons’ glasses to preserve the utmost freshness, flavor, and integrity. Boasting a spacious interior, the brewery will offer approximately 100 seats, complemented by ample outdoor seating and a curated food menu. Lowlander, which takes its name from its location in the Puget Sound Lowlands, will also pay homage to the building’s past identity as the beloved sports bar, FX McRory’s, by providing a lively atmosphere for sports enthusiasts to watch games on the many TVs or grab a drink before or after attending a game at the Stadium District just blocks away.

Pizza by the Slice at Un Po Tipsy Pizzeria
Un Po Tipsy Pizzeria will greet guests with the tantalizing aroma of freshly baked pizza as they walk through RailSpur’s alleyways. This casual eatery will showcase an array of wood-fired pizza slices, perfect for a quick and satisfying lunch or post-work bite or before heading to a game at one of the nearby stadiums. The fun, yet intimate environment will offer pinball games and will have around 30 seats for dining, plus a standing counter for grab-and-go slices.

European-Inspired Dining in Pioneer Square
Offering an elevated culinary experience within the same space, the final concept will encompass a higher-end, European-inspired restaurant that will enchant diners with its sophisticated ambiance and fare. Open exclusively in the evenings, this refined establishment will include roughly 40 seats, plus a cocktail bar. The menu will draw inspiration from the culinary traditions of the European coasts and will include sustainably sourced seafood delights, such as oysters and clams, that Sea Creatures is known for.

These new Sea Creature additions align with Urban Villages’ commitment to environmentally responsible development and will complement RailSpur’s existing offerings, including 77,000 square feet of modernized workspace; Sonder Suites (26 furnished, short-term rental apartments); activated alleyways that regularly host art and music programming; and Hotel Westland, a boutique lifestyle hotel opening in fall 2024.

A Denver-based developer broke ground on a 120-room hotel slated to be part of its mixed-use Railspur project in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. Hotel Westland, a boutique property designed to include a ground-level retail, micro-apartments, offices, restaurants and a rooftop bar, is projected to open at 100 S. King St. in summer 2024, developer Urban Villages said in a statement. The hotel is part of RailSpur, a “micro-district” that also includes an eight-story office at 419 Occidental Ave. and residential units with retail at 115 S. Jackson St. and alleyways that connect the three historic buildings. Hotel Westland, designed by The Miller Hull Partnership architecture firm, will be operated by Aparium Hotel Group. Urban Villages designed the RailSpur development to be climate-negative, which means that the property goes beyond achieving net-zero carbon emissions to remove additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Hotel Westland and Populus, a 265-room hotel expected to be completed by Urban Villages next year in Denver, are the first two of what the developer calls the first two “carbon-positive” hotels of their kind in the United States. “The greenest building is one you don’t have to build from the ground up,” Urban Villages CEO and co-founder Grant McCargo said in the statement. “With adaptive reuse, we’ve modernized the building and honored its heritage, all while minimizing environmental impact.” The Westland is being built in the face of a slow recovery of downtown Seattle’s hotel market since deep declines in occupancy during the pandemic, according to a CoStar analytics report. The recovery has been slow due to the heavy dependence on tech giants with a major presence in the central business district such as Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and RedFin. Those companies and others have reduced corporate travel since the pandemic, and have also announced thousands of layoffs in recent months. Downtown Seattle’s 12-month average hotel occupancy through April was about 67%, compared with annual occupancy near or above 80% from 2013 to 2019.