Chinese firm gets OK for 65 units

Construction fencing has gone up around a Lower Queen Anne site at 400 Roy St. where the Chinese firm Plus Investment USA has a master use permit to build a mixed-use apartment complex.

The five-story structure will have 65 units, 33 underground parking spaces and about 3,400 square feet of retail. Parking will be accessed from the alley to the east.

A deck and dog run will be on the roof, and there will be a large bike room below grade.

Plus acquired the 18,000-square-foot corner site for $3.65 million through an LLC in two transactions in 2006 and 2015. The property is currently used for surface parking and there is a vacant one-story office building from the 1950s.

A representative from Plus said the firm hopes to break ground in early 2018, following demolition work this summer.

Across the alley to the east, at 701 Fifth Ave. N., F&M Development is proposing 99 units in a five-story building designed by Hewitt. That project appears to be close to filing for a MUP.

Both buildings will be a block from a QFC and Seattle Center, and short walk to South Lake Union and Uptown.

Plus is also planning to build 91 units at 1170 Republican St. in South Lake Union. The site is now home to the Row House Cafe, which was recently denied landmark status and will be razed.

The trophy project for Plus is still its ELEV8 development on 4.6 acres in downtown Bellevue. There the firm is initially proposing two 40-story residential towers, which are still in the planning and permitting process. Two more towers, with offices and a hotel, might eventually follow.

The 400 Roy team includes Grace Architects; W.G. Clark Construction Co., general contractor; Site Workshop, landscape architect; LPD Engineering, civil engineer; Swenson Say Faget, structural engineer; and Chadwick & Winters, surveyor.