3 October 2000
Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce

$11M hotel coming to U-District

A six-story, 60,000-square-foot hotel is set to take shape in Seattle's University District. Located on 4242 Roosevelt Ave NE, the Watertown hotel features "movable theme carts" in each room that can be adjusted to accommodate guests' various needs and interests. Guests can order the "office cart", for example, which converts a hotel room to an off-site workspace. Other options include the "party cart", "literary cart", and a "surfing cart" for Internet aficionados.

Hotel guests will be able to check out bicycles for trips on the portion of the Burke-Gilman bike trail that runs along the nearby Lake Washington Ship Canal.

Likely guests of the new hotel, according to Watertown owner Nootka Hotels, will be University of Washington guests and visitors.

Based in Seattle, Nootka recently received a master use permit from the city's Department of Design, Construction and Land Use for the $11 million, 100-room hotel. The company also owns and operates the University Inn, located one block south from the project.

Degen & Degen, a Seattle architectural firm, designed the metal and stucco-clad building, which in addition to guest rooms will have a breakfast café, meeting rooms, fitness center and two levels of underground parking. A courtyard on the site will link Northeast 43rd Street to Roosevelt Avenue Northeast. Hotel rooms will be accented with bamboo flooring, custom art and cherry-finished woodwork.

W.G. Clark of Seattle is expected to begin construction in January, with completion targeted for Spring 2002. Other design team members include structural and civil engineer Coughlin Porter Lundeen of Seattle; landscape architect Allworth Nussbaum of Seattle; mechanical engineer The Rice Group of Lynnwood; and electrical engineer Hargis Engineering of Seattle.