Hyatt Regency Seattle, also known as 808 Howell Street and 8th & Howell, is a
high-rise hotel in the
Denny Triangle neighborhood of
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, United States that opened in December 2018. The 45-story hotel, operated by
Hyatt
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...
, has 1,260 hotel rooms and is the largest in the city. It also has of meeting and event space, as well as two ballrooms and a lounge.
History
The original proposal for the site was revealed in 2008, but later cancelled due to the
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
.
That plan called for a 51-story, hotel that was to be constructed from 2011 to 2013. The hotel would have included of convention space, meeting rooms, two ballrooms, a restaurant, parking for 1,100 cars, and 1,200 rooms. The site, a three-quarter-block, L-shaped parcel that
Richard Hedreen bought in 1995 for $4.5 million, included a
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and pac ...
bus station that would have been demolished for the hotel.
After cancelling the earlier hotel project, R.C. Hedreen purchased the remaining land on the block in 2012. The developer has discussed putting a hotel and possibly an office building on the site. The developer then had a plan to build two towers with a hotel, apartments, and office space.
The plan was altered in March 2013, most notably to remove the offices and second tower, to simplify the approval process.
The 43 story building features a 1,550 room hotel (which would be the largest in Seattle), of meeting space, 150 apartments, and of retail space.
This project was further modified because an arrangement could not be reached with the City of Seattle to
vacate the alley in exchange for the inclusion of 152
affordable housing
Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affo ...
units, using only three quarters of the block. The remaining quarter will be developed into a smaller, 450-room hotel. The project was at the center of a dispute between developer Hedreen and a local labor union, who alleged that the building would not provide adequate public benefits as required by the city's land use code; ultimately, an appeal to the city was rejected and allowed construction of the project to begin in 2015.
Greyhound relocated the bus terminal in 2014 to a location near the
Stadium light rail station in the
SoDo
Sodo ( am, ሶዶ) or Wolaita Sodo ( am, ወላይታ ሶዶ) or ( Wolaytatto: ''Wolayta Sodo Ambbaa'') is a city in south-central Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Wolaita Zone. It has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation bet ...
neighborhood. Demolition of the terminal building began in September 2015. The 45-story hotel opened on December 10, 2018, and is operated under the
Hyatt Regency
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...
brand.
It cost $470 million to construct and fully opened on December 17, 2018.
The hotel has conferences booked into 2026, including a meeting of the
American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...
in January 2019 that was the venue's first major event.
Facilities
The 45-story hotel has 1,264 rooms, making it the largest hotel in the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...
.
It has of conference and meeting space, including 46 meeting rooms and two ballrooms. The lower floors of the building has two restaurants and a "grab and go" store.
The Hyatt Regency has a staff of more than 400 workers.
See also
*
List of tallest buildings in Seattle
Seattle, Washington, United States, the most populous city in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, has 118 completed high-rise buildings over , of which 52 are over tall. An additional 65 high-rise buildings are under construction or ...
References
{{Seattle skyscrapers
Skyscraper hotels in Seattle
Hotel buildings completed in 2018
Hyatt Hotels and Resorts
2018 establishments in Washington (state)