By MARC STILES
Urban Renaissance Group is known as an owner and manager of office properties, not residential buildings, but that’s about to to change.
Seattle-based URG has grown significantly since its founding 10 years ago, and it became a major player in the ground-up development sector through acquisition two years ago of another Seattle company, Touchstone. The merger created a potent force in the office sector that will now be felt in multifamily residential.
Touchstone (which still operates under that name) is developing office projects totaling 1.6 million square feet as well as hotels. In June it was named national developer of the year by an industry trade group.
URG CEO Pat Callahan this week said office development is definitely part of his company’s future, but it is now branching out to do residential work. Touchstone has some residential experience, having gotten permits for a 37-story apartment tower that another company is now building in Seattle’s Denny Triangle as part of the Tilt49 development.
“We are certainly actively looking at residential and hotel sites,” Callahan said. “It would not just be high-rise residential. It would include six-story residential in very good urban neighborhoods.”
The company, like many other developers, is interested in finding development sites near bus-rapid-transit and light-rail stations in areas outside of downtown.
Doing more residential development is part of URG’s broader plan to excel at mixed-use projects. Mixed-use is not a new development concept, but more and more developers are trying to master it. Callahan said doing so is key to capitalizing on opportunities in urban areas.
“The best way to do this is to have expertise in office, residential and hotel because if you can master those three sectors, you can create great mixed-use development, whether it’s in the core of downtown Seattle or downtown Bellevue or next to a light rail station,” he said.
Where URG and Touchstone will focus its efforts to build housing is to be determined. Callahan mentioned Seattle’s Capitol Hill and Fremont neighborhoods as well as Bainbridge Island. Bainbridge might seem odd, but the ferry terminal at Winslow makes the island a transit-oriented development opportunity, said Callahan, who lives on the island.
The Puget Sound Business Journal will publish more from the interview with Callahan in the Nov. 11 print edition.
Photo by Anthony Bolante
