Esther Okawa – Seneca Group

Bellevue home to some of the nation’s largest office developments, report finds

Posted on August 22, 2024 (December 13, 2024)

Five of the nation’s biggest office developments this year are in the Puget Sound region, with four of five already done. A fifth, Amazon’s 43-story Tower 1 at 600 Bellevue, is tentatively set to deliver this quarter, according to a Wednesday report by internet listing company CommercialCafe. At 1.14 million square feet, the Tower 1 […]

Transformative Sustainability: The Story of Amazon’s HQ2 in Arlington

Posted on May 17, 2024 (December 13, 2024)

The built environment has a significant impact on the climate, with buildings alone contributing nearly 40% of global CO2 emissions and consuming more energy than both the industrial and transportation sectors. Implementing low carbon solutions on large developments can be challenging due to impracticality at scale, lack of proven effectiveness, regulatory constraints, and the need […]

New Principals and Associate Principal for Seneca Group

Posted on February 7, 2024 (December 13, 2024)

Seneca Group welcomes Lavina Sadhwani and Nick Diede to the Principal Group and Blair Greenberg to the Associate Principal Group. Lavina brings 23 years of invaluable experience to the firm’s leadership. Her expertise extends to long-range master planning and entitlements, delivering large-scale shell and core projects for life science, healthcare, civic, and commercial office clients. […]

NatureBridge Evening on the Lake

Posted on February 1, 2024 (December 13, 2024)

Seneca Group is honored to help NatureBridge raise funding for vital community programs and park maintenance. As building community is one of our core values, we stood alongside our clients and project partners to sponsor the Evening on the Lake in October. This event raised $345,000 towards future educational programs and the maintenance of […]

New Fred Hutch building headed to design review in 2024

Posted on January 24, 2024 (December 13, 2024)

[Seneca Note: Seneca Group Tapped for New Stuart and Molly Sloan Precision Oncology Institute at Fred Hutch Cancer Center, Seattle WA Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center selected Seneca Group in June 2023 to provide development management services for the Seattle-based Center’s new Stuart and Molly Sloan Precision Oncology Institute. The new Institute will support the Center’s initiative […]

Charlie Gronek Joins WTOP + Amazon Sustainability Panel

Posted on November 30, 2023 (March 20, 2024)

Charlie joins other project team sustainability leaders on WTOP’s panel to highlight Amazon’s Met Park strategies for achieving net-zero . Listen and watch here. WTOP YouTube Video […]

A duo of honors for Amazon-backed shelter

Posted on November 28, 2023 (December 13, 2024)

The center’s design creates a welcoming, home-like environment. [Seneca Note: Our Mary’s Place Seneca Group Development Management team of Ian Kell and Matt Blakeney is proud to stand alongside Amazon and our project partners in celebration of the AIA and CTBUH awards for Mary’s Place Family Center located at Amazon’s Nitro South! Borne of Amazon’s […]

BNBuilders Starts on New Upper School for SAAS

Posted on November 2, 2023 (March 20, 2024)

Demolition overseen by general contractor BNBuilders has now begun at 1120 12th Ave. on Capitol Hill, just south of East Union Street. Once four small old industrial buildings are scraped, construction will begin on the new LMN-designed upper school for SAAS, aka Seattle Academy. The plan had been to start construction after the past […]

Towers of Power – Amazon’s HQ2 is Here. There’s a Lot Banking on it.

Posted on July 20, 2023 (July 20, 2023)

[Seneca Note: Exciting day for Seneca Group and all the project partners delivering HQ2. Congratulations to Amazon and the entire SG team working on the project over the past 4 years. We are proud to have provided Amazon development management services from site evaluation and team assembly to design, permitting and construction.] Looking out from […]

Congratulations to Seattle Children’s Building Care

Posted on July 19, 2023

Congratulations to Seattle Children’s Building Care for being one of the recipients of the 2023 AIA’s Healthcare Design Awards. We are proud to have partnered on this important healthcare facility. […]

Seneca Group and Amazon’s HQ2 Featured in GreenBiz

Posted on July 5, 2023 (July 19, 2023)

Seneca Group played a crucial role in guiding Amazon’s decarbonizing efforts for their HQ2 project, benefiting the climate and the community. Charlie Gronek and the Seneca Group team recommended and oversaw implementation of climate-friendly solutions, including low-carbon concrete, mass timber, energy-efficient buildings systems, water reuse, and expansive green spaces. Read more about HQ2’s impressive sustainability […]

Executive Team Transition

Posted on June 28, 2023 (May 17, 2024)

As part of an intergenerational transfer of leadership at the firm, Jeff Giuzio and Laura Lohman have joined Craig Parsons as Managing Principals. They along with Chief Financial Officer, Chris Jones, comprise the firm’s Executive Leadership. David Victor, one of the firm’s original founders, continues to serve as Chairman of the Board, providing strategic input […]

New Principals for Seneca Group

Posted on June 28, 2023 (August 25, 2023)

We are thrilled to welcome Ann, Jacob and Reeve as principals. Their continued dedication brings immeasurable expertise, client service, and leadership to every project. […]

People on the Move

Posted on June 28, 2023 (June 28, 2023)

Excited for Nick and Elaine to relocate from Seattle to our Mid-Atlantic office in Washington DC. They will assume day-to-day leadership as part of our ongoing dedication to the Mid-Atlantic region. Along with Jeff Giuzio’s longstanding regional leadership, they will drive our expansion on the East Coast. […]

Seneca Group Volunteers Celebrate Earth Day by Planting 300 Saplings with Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Posted on May 1, 2023 (May 19, 2023)

Our Northern Virginia Seneca Group volunteered last week with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at Clagett Farm. Together, we assisted in repotting over 300 saplings that will eventually find permanent homes along local waterways. Shoreline trees help to filter the air and environment above and hold soil below to curb pollution and outflow before they hit […]

Vivian Ramirez Joins Esteemed Panel for Open Discussion on Equity and Career Development in Design

Posted on April 23, 2023 (May 19, 2023)

Our own superstar Vivian Ramirez joins other talented women on 4/25 for the Gensler/AIA DC Equity Committee’s Wield panel. She’ll be part of an open discussion around equity and career development in the design field. Come join Seneca Group, HITT Contracting, Gensler and more. https://lnkd.in/dpxpdnwd. Thank you for helping transform and strengthen our industry, Vivian. […]

Seneca Group – Arlington, Liberty Promise, and AWS host Alexandria High School youth

Posted on April 18, 2023 (May 2, 2023)

Seneca Group (Sergio Curro), in conjunction with Liberty Promise and AWS, facilitated Alexandria High School youth visit to the Amazon Skills Center in Crystal City. This interactive space created as part of Amazon’s HQ2 hosts interactive exhibits about cloud computing and AI technologies designed to power future generations. The high school students experienced thought-provoking and […]

The Climate Pledge

Posted on September 27, 2022 (August 1, 2023)

Seneca Group is proud to announce that we have joined The Climate Pledge. Together with 375+ other leading companies, we’re committed to reaching #netzerocarbon by 2040. https://www.theclimatepledge.com/us/en/Stories/impossible-foods-cotapaxi-among-new-signatories https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6977609567807438849/ […]

Seneca Group Day of Giving – Seattle

Posted on August 8, 2022 (August 8, 2022)

This past week, Seneca Group spent a day volunteering at Rainier View Elementary with Seattle Public Schools. Our team helped with various outdoor refresh activities such as weeding, mulching, building garden beds and painting athletic court lines and art. Thank you to Seattle Public Schools for having us out for the day! […]

Seneca Group Day of Giving – Arlington

Posted on July 27, 2022 (August 8, 2022)

As part of Seneca’s community engagement commitment, our NoVA team recently spent the day cleaning up one out of the 30 ponds at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Northeast DC. The gardens are on ancestral land to the Nacotchtank (Anacostan) and Piscataway Conoy People. With exotic water lilies and lotus that bloom primarily during the summer, […]

Amazon closes $198M PenPlace purchase, another key step for HQ2’s development

Posted on June 9, 2022 (June 9, 2022)

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has acquired the roughly 11 vacant acres in Pentagon City that will soon be developed as PenPlace, the massive second phase of HQ2. The $198 million deal with JBG Smith (NYSE: JBGS), as expected, follows Arlington County’s late April approval of PenPlace, a nearly 3.3 million-square-foot project slated to include three […]

LMN Refines Design for New SAAS High School

Posted on June 2, 2022 (December 12, 2024)

Looking southwest, the upper school will partly wrap around the Vanderbilt Building, at left (renderings by LMN). Seattle Academy of Arts & Sciences is planning to demolish some old industrial buildings, directly south of its existing Vanderbilt Building, for a new upper school building. LMN Architects is designing the five-story, 85,000-square-foot project at 1120 […]

Expedia pulls back curtain on new Seattle Campus

Posted on June 1, 2022 (June 1, 2022)

Seattle-based Expedia Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPE) has officially opened its Interbay headquarters. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Expedia had started moving employees into its new Seattle campus. The company had joined other tech giants, such as Amazon and Microsoft, in delaying its office reopening as Covid cases spiked. The pandemic stifled Expedia’s business at a […]

Olson Kundig’s The Century Project at the Space Needle wins AIA Award

Posted on February 23, 2022 (July 20, 2023)

[Seneca Note: The Century Project at the Space Needle is a redesign of an international icon in Seattle. The project includes the world’s first rotating glass floor on the restaurant level just below the observation deck. Seneca was involved in the early phases of entitlement and Landmarks approval, and also provided full development management services […]

Amazon’s Second Bellevue 600 Tower Gathers more Steam

Posted on January 10, 2022 (January 10, 2022)

There are two components to Amazon’s Bellevue 600 project, at 600 and 640 108th Ave. N.E. in downtown Bellevue. Phase I, the 43-story east tower, is now underway. That project replaced an old structured parking garage. It’ll probably open in 2024, after the 2023 opening of Bellevue Downtown Station, practically at its doorstep. Phase II, […]

Take a sneak peak inside the Amazon Nashville office

Posted on December 6, 2021 (December 6, 2021)

[Seneca Note: Congratulations to Amazon on the completion of their first of two office buildings in Nashville! Seneca Group was proud to provide development management services for the tenant improvements which includes collaborative office and communal space, cafés, and exterior amenity decks with sweeping views of Nashville.] With more than 2,500 employees already hired […]

ENR Northwest Best Office/Retail Project for 2021

Posted on December 6, 2021 (December 6, 2021)

Seneca is proud to be a part of the Alaska Airlines Copper River Phase I project which was awarded the ENR Northwest Best Office/Retail project for 2021! […]

Amazon moves into first Nashville Yards tower as headcount eclipses 2,000

Posted on August 19, 2021 (August 19, 2021)

Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) has hired more than 2,000 employees for its downtown Nashville office hub, and some of them began working from the company’s first new high-rise within the last month. Both milestones, which a top executive disclosed in an interview with the Business Journal, signal that not even a pandemic appears to have […]

Seneca’s NOVA team going strong!

Posted on April 28, 2021 (April 30, 2021)

The pandemic may have slowed a few things down but not on our Northern Virginia Seneca team. Now at 5 members and soon to be 6, Jeff Giuzio, our Seattle Principal overseeing the Amazon HQ2 development, was finally able to experience the team in 3-D. It was a great day! […]

LMN Seattle School Project Wins AIA Award

Posted on April 19, 2021

Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences Middle School building, designed by Seattle-based LMN Architects, is one of seven winners of the 2021 Interior Architecture Awards of the American Institute of Architects. The awards program celebrates the most innovative interior spaces, the AIA said in a press release. Entries are evaluated on design achievement, including sense […]

Amazon’s Bellevue 600 Receives City Blessing

Posted on January 27, 2021 (January 27, 2021)

[Seneca Note: Congratulations to Amazon on the recent Bellevue 600 Phase 1 ADR and MDP approvals. Seneca Group is proud to provide Amazon development Management services for the entitlement, design and construction efforts.] Amazon’s Bellevue 600, a proposed two-tower office project, received an approval of its master development plan, design review and variance request from […]

ACEC Honors Amazon Campus and Rainier Square Tower

Posted on December 15, 2020 (December 15, 2020)

The Amazon in the Regrade project in downtown Seattle won a grand award in the 53rd Annual Engineering Excellence Awards sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies. Magnusson Klemencic Associates of Seattle provided structural engineering for the development, which was one of five Pacific Northwest projects honored in the 2020 awards. A total of […]

Amazon buys Pentagon City hotel, now has full control over superblock as vision for HQ2 expands

Posted on September 25, 2020 (September 25, 2020)

[Seneca Note: Seneca Group assisted throughout the transaction, leading the due diligence process.] Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has purchased the Residence Inn by Marriott in Pentagon City with plans to demolish it and expand its second headquarters, the company tells the Washington Business Journal. Acorn Development LLC, an Amazon subsidiary, paid $148.5 million for the […]

Amazon’s Seattle campus now hosts the largest family shelter in Washington

Posted on May 24, 2020 (September 23, 2020)

[Seneca Note: Seneca Group served as development manager of the Mary’s Place Family Center in the Regrade. The new shelter was provided by Amazon and included in the multi-tower Denny Regrade development block.] Amazon has opened its homeless shelter on its downtown Seattle campus. Mary’s Place Family Center in The Regrade opened to families in […]

First Look: Amazon’s Bellevue 600 Skyscrapers Designed to be Gateway

Posted on January 30, 2020 (January 30, 2020)

Documents obtained from the city of Bellevue reveal what Amazon’s Bellevue 600 project will look like and offer other details. The development team, led by Seneca Group, states that Amazon would like to start construction of the first tower in 2021 and move into the 43-story building in 2024. In addition to the tower, the […]

Sneak Peek: Inside F5 Tower, the Seattle Tech Company’s New Home

Posted on November 18, 2019 (January 30, 2020)

In any area of any floor in F5 Networks’ new headquarters, employees and visitors can see outside. The view was a crucial design element for the Seattle technology company, which in April began moving from its Elliott Bay campus into the 44-story tower it staked its claim on two years ago, Executive Vice President and […]

Amazon provides additional HQ2 details, from community gardens to a banana stand

Posted on August 19, 2019 (April 30, 2021)

[Seneca Note: Seneca Group is serving as Amazon’s owner representative of the Arlington HQ2 project. We are supporting the overall HQ2 development process from site evaluation and team assembly to design, permitting and construction.] From local retailers to a banana stand, Amazon.com Inc. Wednesday offered a taste of what’s to come for the residents and […]

Seneca Group Tours Expedia Group Seattle Headquarters

Posted on August 16, 2019 (August 16, 2019)

The Seneca team recently toured the new waterfront campus for the Expedia Group. Located on the shores of Elliott Bay, when the full campus is completed in the summer of 2020, it will comprise over one million feet of office and amenity buildings and house almost 5,000 employees. Initial occupancy of the first phase begins […]

$48M SAAS Middle School is ‘a new front door’

Posted on June 4, 2019 (August 16, 2019)

The 69,900-square-foot Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences Middle School building at 1137 13th Ave. on Capitol Hill was completed in late 2018. LMN Architects designed the $48 million project, and GLY Construction was the general contractor. In a press release, LMN said the middle school building is a new front door for the academy, […]

From the Ground Up

Posted on May 17, 2019 (August 16, 2019)

Amazon’s new Arlington campus will feature energy-efficient offices, new community space, and neighborhood retail. As we develop plans for our second headquarters in Arlington, we are looking to foster a sense of place for our teams and community residents. We are looking to build an urban campus that will allow our employees to think creatively, […]

Amazon taps Seattle firms NBBJ, Seneca, to help plan HQ2

Posted on May 16, 2019 (August 16, 2019)

Amazon has enlisted a trio of firms deeply involved with the development of its Seattle campus to help shape the plans for its second headquarters, an early indication the two campuses could share some common design elements. The Seattle-based company has been mum on what its new buildings will look like, but emails obtained by […]

Seattle Children’s breaks ground on a $400 million campus expansion

Posted on December 4, 2018 (December 6, 2018)

Seattle Children’s is building a $400 million expansion to keep up with growth. Called Building Care, the 310,000-square-foot addition, will be north of the hospital’s Building Hope location in the Emergency Department parking lot. It will serve as the hospital’s new front door, according to a news release. The addition will have eight floors above […]

Alaska Air to break ground, and silence, on major office expansion near SeaTac HQ

Posted on May 1, 2018 (December 6, 2024)

Alaska Air Group will unveil plans and break ground Thursday on a new building between its corporate headquarters and flight training center in SeaTac. The building is the first phase of the code-named Project Copper River, which the Business Journal first reported in December. Two weeks later Alaska paid nearly $32 million for the approximately […]

Seneca Group Celebrates its 25th Anniversary

Posted on October 3, 2017 (December 14, 2017)

October 3rd 2017 marks the 25th Anniversary of Seneca Group. […]

Thanks to Amazon, Seattle is now America’s biggest company town

Posted on August 23, 2017 (December 14, 2017)

Amazon so dominates Seattle that it has as much office space as the city’s next 40 biggest employers combined. And the growth continues: Amazon’s Seattle footprint of 8.1 million square feet is expected to soar to more than 12 million square feet within five years. Amazon’s extraordinary growth has turned Seattle into the biggest company […]

The Needle’s $100M rehab set for fall

Posted on June 13, 2017 (December 14, 2017)

Construction is set to begin this fall on a $100 million renovation of the Space Needle. The work will update systems on the 605-foot structure, and redo the restaurant and observation areas. Olson Kundig is the architect, and Hoffman Construction Co. is the general contractor. Seneca Group is development manager. Tihany Design is working on […]

F5 is taking Daniels’ tower at 801 Fifth for its headquarters

Posted on May 4, 2017 (December 14, 2017)

Kevin Daniels’ 48-story tower under construction at 801 Fifth Ave. has a big new tenant — and a new name. F5 Networks announced Wednesday it will lease all 516,000 square feet of office space in the project, which has been known as The Mark. The new name is F5 Tower. Construction is expected to wrap […]

F5 Networks takes new Seattle high-rise in biggest lease of 2017

Posted on May 3, 2017 (December 14, 2017)

F5 Networks will move its headquarters from Seattle’s waterfront to a new downtown skyscraper where it has agreed to lease all of the office space in the 44-story tower. Formerly known as the Mark, the new tower at 801 Fifth Ave. is now F5 Tower. The computer networking company said Wednesday it will move in […]

SAAS starts $48M middle school

Posted on March 8, 2017 (December 14, 2017)

Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences said on Tuesday it’s breaking ground this week on the $48 million Cardinal Union middle school building on its Capitol Hill campus. The five-story, 74,300-square-foot structure will be built on the southwest corner of 13th Avenue and East Union St. LMN Architects is the architect and interior designer. GLY […]

Aviation Pavilion at The Museum of Flight / SRG Partnership

Posted on February 24, 2017 (December 14, 2017)

From the architect. The Museum of Flight’s Aviation Pavilion is a 135,000 square foot roof supported by steel columns and brace frames with a twelve-inch concrete paving slab. It houses twenty aircraft for augmented protection from the elements and patron access. Exhibited planes include the iconic Boeing 747 and 787 prototypes, Air Force One, Concorde, […]

Starbucks’ luxury Roastery brand is paying off, CEO Howard Schultz says

Posted on November 8, 2016 (December 14, 2017)

Starbucks opened its Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in Seattle two years ago as the first step toward creating a premium coffee brand. Roastery sales are up 24 percent in fiscal 2016 over the previous year and the average Roastery customer spends four times more than at a typical Starbucks store, CEO Howard Schultz said. […]

It’s a go: Construction starts on Amazon’s third tower

Posted on November 8, 2016 (December 14, 2017)

Construction is under way on the third tower in Amazon’s Seattle high-rise campus. When this phase is completed in 2019, the full block at Westlake and Lenora avenues will have a 37-story tower and a seven-story building with a total of 1.1 million square feet of office, more than 43,000 square feet of retail and […]

Seneca + Outdoors for All Volunteer Day

Posted on August 18, 2016 (December 14, 2017)

This year we are supporting Outdoors For All by assisting with a cycling event and BBQ at one of their summer day camps, and making some improvements to their Adaptive Cycling Center while we’re there at Magnusen Park. […]

Museum of Flight’s $28M Big Top

Posted on June 17, 2016 (December 14, 2017)

The Museum of Flight will open the $28.2 million Aviation Pavilion on June 25 with a collection of rare aircraft below the massive nine-story canopy. The museum is at 9404 E. Marginal Way S. The pavilion is on the west side of the street, between Charles Simonyi Space Gallery and Raisbeck Aviation High School. The […]

Next up at Seattle Academy: $48M middle school, gym at 12th & Union

Posted on November 12, 2015 (December 14, 2017)

Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences is planning a new project for its campus on Capitol Hill. The private prep school is raising funds for to build a $48 million middle school and gym at 1215 E. Union St. LMN Architects is the designer. The project will seek a LEED gold certification. The five-story, 87,500-square-foot […]

Impatient Optimist: Install at the Gates Foundation

Posted on January 8, 2015 (December 14, 2017)

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Flight museum considers putting a roof over planes stored outside

Posted on December 5, 2014 (December 14, 2017)

The Museum of Flight has filed plans with the city of Tukwila to build a structure to cover historic aircraft that now are displayed outside. Mike Bush, director of marketing and public relations, said the idea is to protect the aircraft from the elements. They include a British Airways Concorde, the first Boeing 747, a […]

Bezos Center for Innovation

Posted on March 10, 2014 (December 14, 2017)

The Bezos Center for Innovation opened at Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry. Supported by Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos, the center is an exhibit of innovation, using multimedia and hands-on experiences as well as artifacts, images and oral histories that explore Seattle’s creative history. The 5,000-square-foot exhibit begins with the question, “What is innovation?”. Visitors […]

LEED gold for Building Hope

Posted on January 13, 2014 (December 14, 2017)

Seattle Children’s Building Hope expansion was awarded LEED gold by the U.S. Green Building Council. The 330,000-square-foot, eight-story building is on the campus on Sand Point Way Northeast. It was designed by ZGF Architects and built by Sellen Construction. Other team members include Seneca Group, development manager; Coughlin Porter Lundeen, civil and structural engineer; Affiliated […]

Love Parks Volunteer Day

Posted on July 16, 2013 (December 14, 2017)

Seneca Group is privileged to work with many of the community groups and non-profit organizations contributing to the health, welfare and cultural enrichment of the citizens of our region. We find inspiration in their work, and support their causes through donations of services, time and financial support. In July, our team closed the office and […]