Eastside Business -- Seco Plans To Develop Renton Site -- Seco Has Mixed-Use Plans For Renton Waterfront Site

A high-density redevelopment of the old Shuffleton Steam Plant property could hasten the transition of Renton from a blue-collar industrial city to a community that also caters to high-tech office tenants.

Michael Christ's Bellevue-based Seco Development has submitted preliminary plans to build a residential and office project on the waterfront property that separates Boeing's Renton plant from Gene Coulon Park.

The possible redevelopment of Puget Sound Energy's Shuffleton plant has excited some city officials because it would bring both economic development and greater public access to the Lake Washington shoreline.

"This development fits the profile of what we would be looking for. If we were going out to look for something and recruit it, this is exactly what we would be looking for," said Sue Carlson, Renton's planning and economic development administrator.

Preliminary plans envision 543 to 581 apartments or condominiums, 500,000 to 750,000 square feet of offices, and 38,000 square feet of retail and service uses. The buildings would be five to eight stories.

Seco's option to purchase the 17-acre waterfront property expires at the end of November.

Christ said the waterfront property would make an ideal campus for a high-tech company. "To have a 67-acre park with a mile and a half of waterfront next door to you and to be on the shores of Lake Washington on a clean site, it's the most exciting project I've ever had the opportunity to participate in," he said.

Seco is studying whether it is feasible to convert the old steam plant into a 128,000-square-foot office building. A consulting team includes engineers and architects who were involved in the conversion of Seattle's Lake Union steam plant into ZymoGenetics headquarters.

The oil-powered Shuffleton plant generated electricity from 1929 until 1989, when it became uneconomical, said Bob Boyd, president of Puget Sound Energy's real-estate arm.

The power company is now removing soil contaminants that include petroleum, lead, arsenic, PCBs and asbestos. Seco would be responsible for removing or immobilizing asbestos and any other contaminants inside the building.

The project would require a rezone, an amendment of Renton's comprehensive plan and an environmental impact statement. The city is expected to require Seco to build a waterfront promenade across its property.

If extended across the adjacent Boeing property, the promenade would link the 1 1/2-mile Cedar River Trail with the waterfront trail in Coulon Park.

Although the Shuffleton parcel is zoned for heavy industrial use, Carlson said its conversion to a mix of residential, office and retail uses would meet the city's goals of encouraging more public use of the waterfront.

City officials' concerns about the project include its effect on access to nearby Interstate 405 and whether next-door neighbor Boeing might consider it incompatible with its busy aircraft factory next door.

One corner of a Boeing hangar is within 100 feet of the property line. The hangar is 125 feet tall and about as large as the entire 17-acre Shuffleton property.

Boeing spokeswoman Sherry Nebel said yesterday she did not know if the company has any concerns about the proposed development.

Seco, the leading developer of apartments in downtown Bellevue, is breaking ground this week on its latest project, a 128-apartment building north of Main Street between 107th Avenue Northeast and 108th Avenue Northeast.

The company also built the 220-unit Parkridge Apartments, which opened in 1994, and the 191-unit Oakwood Bellevue, which opened last fall. Seco's 190-unit Gardens at Town Square, an assisted-living facility scheduled to open late next month, will be operated by Leisure Care.

Keith Ervin's phone number: 206-515-5632. His e-mail address: kervin@seattletimes.com