If you can see the Rainier Tower (the rectangular 41-storey 5th Ave building on an 11-storey concrete pedestal), then you will soon see an unusual neighbor arising 58 storeys to its north.
The Rainier Square Tower will feature nearly 200 luxury apartment units above the 40th floor, 750,000 square feet of office space below that (all leased by Amazon), and 30,000 square feet of retail space, as well as a 12-story hotel with approximately 150 rooms in a separate building between the new building and the 1977 Rainier Tower.
I remember the pedestal Rainier Tower from 1973 when it was in the planning stages. I happened to be serving on the UW’s Faculty Council on Facilities and Services. That entire block– 4th to 5th Avenues, Union to University Street–is owned by the UW, as it was the original site of the UW. It is now a big part of the UW’s endowment. So the UW will soon be playing landlord to Amazon.
