Location: Seattle
Developers:Essex Property Trust and the Burkheimer Family
Builder:Exxel Pacific
Architect:Runberg Architecture Group
Number of units: 275
Unit mix:Studios to two-bedrooms and townhomes
Rents:$1,150 to $4,000
Expo Apartments borrows its name from the Century 21 Exposition, the 1962 World’s Fair. Located in the heart of the Uptown Urban Center, the 275-unit community is part of Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood. It sits on 1.49 acres on the north boundary of Seattle Center, the site of the Fair.
Designed by Runberg Architecture Group, the project focuses on the relationship of private, semi-private, and public spaces and their connection to the turn-of-the-20th-century brick buildings of lower Queen Anne and the midcentury modern style of Seattle Center. The west façade provides new retail spaces in keeping with existing shops, while the east façade presents a more residential face, with townhouse units at street level.
The south façade opens up to Seattle Center and creates a 2,000-square-foot public plaza with locally designed sculpture and seating that serves as a grand entry to the building. Essex Property Trust and the Burkheimer Family developed the six-story project and set aside 20 percent of the units at below–market rate rents.
The project offers a mix of studios and one- and two-bedroom plans, along with walk-up townhomes with exterior entries and private balconies. In addition, Expo Apartments boasts three rooftop decks with sweeping views of the Space Needle, downtown Seattle, and Elliott Bay. The community is 96 percent leased.
