What are they building? Upscale boutique hotel rising up above Pike Place Market

While much of the new development in downtown Seattle is seemingly either office space or apartments for Amazon and other tech workers, a boutique hotel is slowly taking shape to help fill a growing niche for the well-to-do.

In this week’s edition of “What are they building?” work finally began last summer on the 1st and Stewart Hotel, a long-planned development overlooking the Pike Place Market.

The 11-story building will be home to, what the developers are calling, a “premier boutique hotel.” It will feature 160 rooms, about 95 upscale apartments, a restaurant and bar, and nearly 5,000 square feet of indoor meeting space.

“Most of the hotels being built are convention or business hotels, so there are very few properties being positioned in the upper end of the market,” says veteran Seattle developer Douglas Howe, a principal in the project along with partner Shawn Parry.

“There is a significant need for an upscale, lifestyle boutique hotel which fits the upper end of the market in Seattle. That’s why we partnered with Thompson Hotels for the project,” he says.

A signature feature of the hotel will be its roof-top deck with 8,000 square feet of outdoor space and an interior bar and event space.

“So six, eight months out of the year this is going to be a wonderful place to go. Wonderful views looking out over the Pike Place Market, Elliot Bay, all the way out to Mount Rainier,” says Howe.

The hotel is scheduled to open in May 2016, while the one- and two-bedroom apartments will open some time sooner, says Howe.

With its location next to the Pike Place Market and signature architecture designed by Seattle-based Olson Kundig, Howe predicts the hotel will become prominent and highly sought-out destination for the movers and shakers both visiting and looking for a place to call home amid one of the most popular places in Seattle.

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