The new headquarters for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be across from the Seattle Center, a historically vibrant part of the city.

The Seattle Center was the site of the 1962 World's Fair and has since become a regional and international gathering place, embodying a rich history of public service and benefit—values that are at the core of Bill and Melinda Gates’ philanthropy.

The building site is currently a parking lot owned and operated by the City of Seattle. IRIS Holdings, an affiliated entity of the foundation, is the purchaser and developer of the site. The company is working with a collaborative team that includes real estate development experts from The Seneca Group, Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd (landscape designers), NBBJ (architects), ARUP (engineers), Sellen Construction, and others.

The new campus will be developed in phases over 15 years, with the first phase expected to begin in 2008, after the Seattle Center 5th Avenue North Parking Garage is completed. (Garage construction is slated to begin in early 2007.)

Schedule:

Fall 2005

• Master Use Permit (MUP) process for garage
• Queen Anne/Magnolia Design Review Board meeting #1
• Garage design process (through winter 2007)
• Master Plan and Phase 1 design process for campus (through fall 2008)

Winter 2006

• Application filed for campus Major Phased Development
• Queen Anne/Magnolia Design Review Board meeting #2
• Permitting process for campus Major Phased Development (through fall 2006)
• Tree preservation work on Fifth Avenue North

Spring 2006

• Campus draft EIS issued by city of Seattle
• Draft EIS comment meeting

Summer 2006

• Queen Anne/Magnolia Design Review Board meeting #3
• Power line relocation (through fall 2006)
• Building permit process for parking garage (through summer 2007)

Fall 2006

• Final EIS
• Final Queen Anne/Magnolia Design Review Board meeting
• Property ownership transferred
• Master Use Permit process for campus Phase 1 (through spring 2007)

Winter 2007

• Seattle Center Fifth Avenue North Garage groundbreaking
• Parking garage construction (through mid-2008)

Spring 2008

• Campus construction Phase 1 (through late 2010)

Winter 2010

• Foundation moves into campus
  

Questions or comments about the project may be emailed to 500Fifth@gatesfoundation.org.