Inslee tours South Lake Union: This is 'world class'

Stephen Brashear

Brandon Morgan, left, of Vulcan talks to Gov. Jay Inslee during a tour of Stack House, an apartment and office complex now under construction in Seattle's South Lake Union. Inslee toured the neighborhood on Tuesday .

With construction occurring on almost every block, the energy in Seattle?s South Lake Union district is palpable. Gov. Jay Inslee stopped by on Tuesday to see what the buzz is about.

?This is world class,? the governor said during a tour with representatives of landowner and developer Vulcan Inc. ?We are seeing energy innovation in action.?

Inslee said he came to South Lake Union to talk about how technology is driving the economy.

Inslee stopped at Amazon.com?s 1.8-million-square-foot headquarters. He also visited PATH, one of nearly 20 life science and global health groups that employ around 8,000 people in the neighborhood.

The governor talked about green construction when he toured Stack House Apartments, a 278-unit Vulcan project with office space that?s under construction at Yale Avenue North and Republican Street.

The goal is to have the U.S. Green Building Council certify the residential portion of Stack House as ?platinum,? which is the highest certification possible under LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

Vulcan Real Estate Development Manager Brandon Morgan showed the governor Stack House?s heating system and the Swale on Yale, a bio-filtration system that will remove pollutants from storm water that flows off Capitol Hill and into Lake Union.

Jason Sharpley, the Swale on Yale project manager for Seattle Public Utilities, told Inslee the system will filter up to 180 million gallons of storm water annually. Vulcan is paying $1.2 million of the $11.7 million cost.

?Well, congratulations. This is really something to brag about,? said Inslee.

Marc Stiles covers commercial real estate and government for the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_30/~3/gY9G8nsmAsE/insee-tours-south-lake-union-to.html

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