March 13, 2012 – Source
Seattle developers Monday announced that they’ve bought a site for an apartment tower that promises to become a Belltown landmark.
Seattle-based Goodman Real Estate and Harbor Urban, LLC, with equity partner Capri Capital Partners, LLC, bought the property at 1915 Second Ave. (between Stewart and Virginia streets). They plan to start construction in April on the 24-story Viktoria Apartments.
“Viktoria has the potential to be the signature residential building in Belltown,” Goodman Real Estate Chairman John Goodman said in a news release. The developers said the project is “already being called by many ‘The Vik.'”
It’s the right time and place for the project, Ken Lombard, senior partner at Capri Capital Partners, said in the release. “Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood is an exciting place with pent-up demand for high-quality residential units.”
The building, designed by Weber Thompson Architects, will have 37 studios, 176 one- bedroom apartments and 36 two-bedroom units, featuring steel appliances, granite countertops, “hardwood-like flooring” and air-conditioning. There’s also slated to be a fitness room, yoga studio, theatre/game room, business center, rooftop deck with sky lounge, 3,690 square feet of street-level retail space and 138 parking stalls underground and above.
The $95 million project is scheduled for completion by the end of next year.
The Belltown, Downtown, South Lake Union area had a vacancy rate of 4.6 percent, excluding buildings in initial lease-up and under major renovations, last fall, with average apartment rent of $1,568, according to Dupre + Scott Apartment Advisors. But the vacancy rate was up from last spring, when it was 3.95 percent, and the citywide rate of 3.5 percent in the fall.
Meanwhile, 1,202 units are under construction already in the area, according to Dupre + Scott. Those units will “easily” absorb any pent-up demand, according to Matthew Gardner, a local land-use economist who works with developers.
“I think we’re bringing on a lot compared to our historic averages,” he said Monday. “The amount of new occupancy has been slowing down already.”

Rents have continued to rise, despite recent increases in vacancy rates. But that is starting to change, Gardner said.