Timeline
A multi-year journey from land acquisition to topping out — here's where the project stands, what's underway, and what comes next.
Early excavation and soil characterization — shoring pending
Onni Group purchases the ~4-acre Barnes & Noble block for roughly $116M.
Ecology's December 15 opinion says that, if the proposed independent cleanup is completed as described, further remedial action will likely not be needed. It is prospective—not a final No Further Action decision—and does not settle liability. The site is enrolled for expedited Ecology technical review.
City of Bellevue approves the Master Development Plan and Design Review in June.
Barnes & Noble relocates to Crossroads Mall and Doxa Church moves to Redmond after seven years in the former John Danz Theatre — but both buildings stay standing.
Rather than sitting empty, the existing structures keep hosting tenants — most recently a furniture store in the former Barnes & Noble and a church in the former theatre — right up until demolition.
Onni's demolition permit is issued in January, and Dickson Demolition takes the two long-standing buildings down through the spring, clearing the four-acre superblock.
Crews begin a broad shallow cut under the issued early-works clear-and-grade permit. The dedicated shoring and below-grade structure permits remain pending, so the full five-level garage excavation has not started.
Onni has described construction as close to five years, but no new completion date has been publicly announced. The April 2030 date belonged to a 2022 sequence that predated the delayed start and pending redesign.
Construction field guide · as of August 22, 2026
A megaproject changes legal phase in the permit record and physical phase in the field. The two usually move together, but not on the same day. This guide shows what to look for—and what not to infer—from the Onni 606 camera.
25-126179-BE · issued Jan 12, 2026
21-133872-GD · issued Dec 23, 2025
21-134212-BV · Revision 15 in review
21-134212-BV · 24-104334-GD · Ecology cleanup track
24-104362-BB · P2 through P5
25-105052-BB
25-105181-BB · 25-105109-BB · 25-105295-BB
Later trade, tenant and occupancy approvals
Sequence is a field-reading guide, not a contractor schedule. Adjacent phases can overlap, and permit reviews often advance long before their corresponding work appears on camera. See the current record dependencies in the permit critical-path map.
The build
Early grading remains the only issued excavation phase. Bellevue documented soil export on July 28, while perimeter shoring and the below-grade structure remain unissued. Ecology's August 13 contained-in determination sets handling and reporting conditions for a specific 21,250 tons of PCE-contaminated soil; it does not approve the cleanup plan or identify the earlier export as part of that stream. The next legal phase change requires the applicable shoring, full-grading and below-grade approvals. Beam-haul and pit-conveyor filings are supporting mobilization records, not proof that those gates have cleared. Here's how a project this large comes out of the ground once the dig begins.
The first and slowest act is the hole. Before any tower rises, crews dig a deep excavation across nearly the entire ~4-acre superblock to make room for roughly 1,712 parking stalls, most of them below grade. Shoring the walls, hauling out spoil and pouring the foundation mats for three towers can take the better part of the first year on its own — all of it happening largely out of sight, below street level. (figures approximate)
From there the work goes podium-first: the shared base that knits the three towers together — lobbies, retail, the daycare and amenity levels — is built across the block before the towers climb above it. Only then do the two residential towers and the office tower begin their vertical run toward the ~600-ft Bellevue ceiling, floor by repeated floor.
Expect tower cranes on the skyline for years. Multiple cranes will leapfrog up alongside each tower, becoming the most visible sign of progress from across downtown long before any facade goes on. A topping-out for the tallest tower is the milestone that signals the structure has reached full height.
At street level, the nearest-term impact is along 106th Ave NE: expect periodic lane and sidewalk closures, hauling traffic and pedestrian detours around the site once excavation ramps up. The timing remains contingent on the excavation, shoring and below-grade permits that are still moving through city review.
Latest updates
Newest first
Bellevue approved the Revision 1 electrical review for excavation-pit conveyor permit 26-117887-BG and the Revision 3 and Revision 4 utility reviews for podium permit 25-105052-BB. The podium's Revision 3 transportation line closed so review could continue under Revision 4. Both permits remain Pending; these discipline actions do not issue the conveyors, podium, shoring or below-grade structure.
Source ↗An August 13 contained-in determination establishes a controlled disposal and reporting pathway for a specific 21,250 tons of soil through April 30, 2027. The letter does not name a landfill, cover contaminated water or other excavation areas, approve the cleanup plan, or show that soil exported before the decision belonged to this stream.
Source ↗Two August 13 right-of-way applications cover deliveries of 64- to 96-foot steel beams and a 425-foot PSE gas-main relocation through the Onni parcel to the neighboring 601 108th Avenue NE building. The steel-haul review was approved August 21, but both permits remain Pending. Revision 15 of the shoring permit has cleared or drawn no concern from four disciplines while structural and geotechnical reviews remain in progress.
Source ↗Bellevue permit 26-117887-BG, applied August 4, covers two 600-amp, 480-volt, three-phase pit-conveyor systems for NW Construction. The first electrical review requested a revision August 11 over the control panels' listing or field-evaluation requirements, so the permit remains Pending. The heavy-equipment fuel permit has advanced to Ready to Issue, while shoring and below-grade permits remain pending.
Source ↗The human-reviewed completed-month record uses July 13 as its earliest verified comparison visual and July 21 as its latest, without presenting either as a calendar endpoint. Bellevue records through the July 31 cutoff document soil export, a Tower 2 structural revision request and narrow fire-review approvals; shoring and below-grade permits remained pending, and the soil's volume, classification and destination were not established.
Source ↗A July 28 job-conference note under the issued early-grading permit directs crews to maintain a mechanical street sweeper while exporting soils—the first Bellevue inspection entry to state explicitly that soil is leaving the block. On July 29, fire reviewers approved reviews of the pending fuel-cube and utility-extension permits with preconstruction, grounding, fire-line and hydrant conditions. These are narrow review approvals, not permit issuances; the shoring and below-grade permits remain pending.
Source ↗Bellevue completed the Revision 2 structural review of Tower 2 building permit 25-105109-BB on July 23 with a revision request. The reviewer said the Revision 2 submittal was the same as Revision 1 and directed the applicant back to structural comments posted June 24. The permit remains Pending; this is a request for another revision, not an issuance or denial.
Source ↗A high-resolution afternoon photograph shows six tracked excavators, a tracked dozer and a water truck across a broader graded area than the July 17 camera frame, which showed four excavators. The northeast slab has been broken into a field of rubble or aggregate and the central/southern grade is smoother and more extensive. Bellevue logged a second erosion-control inspection July 20 as Ongoing under the issued early-grading permit; the shoring and below-grade permits remain pending.
Source ↗Camera frames show excavators working exposed soil across a broad shallow cut and dump trucks moving through the site. Bellevue permit 21-133872-GD was issued for early clear-and-grade work for mass excavation, completed its second preconstruction conference June 17 and received an initial erosion-control inspection July 14. A city review note limits it to early grading: the dedicated shoring and below-grade structure permits remain pending.
Source ↗A late-afternoon photograph shows the broad foreground slab and small raised concrete remnant visible July 14 removed, leaving exposed shallow subgrade and distinct rubble stockpiles. Four excavators, a wheel loader and support vehicles are visible. The fixed visual references show the break-sort-clear operation pushing south, but the work remains surface demolition: the shoring and below-grade permits are still pending and no perimeter shoring or deep block-wide cut is visible.
Source ↗Photographs taken about 23 hours apart show rapid visible progress: the bounded removal patch seen July 13 has become a long field of broken concrete and exposed shallow subgrade across much of the visible foreground. At least four excavators and a wheel loader are present in the July 14 view. Different framing prevents a precise area measurement, and the work remains early earthwork and surface demolition — not the deep shored excavation.
Source ↗A new fuel-cube filing for heavy equipment (26-116729-FR) joined the ledger July 13; Comcast's permit to relocate a splice case through two vaults (26-114882-TJ) was issued the same day; and the large temporary construction-power permit (26-114797-BG) is now Ready to Issue after electrical approval July 7. The pattern is active jobsite preparation, not authorization for the deep dig: the shoring and below-grade permits remain pending.
Source ↗Beyond the teardown, the first field-mobilization permits reached the city ledger. A temporary electrical service (26-114355-BF) was applied for and issued the same day — June 17 — then finaled June 25; a larger temporary construction-power permit (26-114797-BG, applied June 26) installs a 2,500-amp and a 4,000-amp 480-volt service drawn from the PSE transformers, with a power skid for site lights, tools and a portable office. A late-May right-of-way permit (26-111760-TJ) cleared a wireless cabinet off a city streetlight pole to make way for the work. Small permits, but the first concrete sign the block is shifting from demolition toward the dig.
Source ↗A City of Bellevue application (26-106943-LJ), filed April 1, 2026 and still pending, proposes a comprehensive reconfiguration of the development — most notably moving the hotel from Tower 1 to Tower 3. It is not yet approved; the current approved plan still places the hotel in Tower 1. A linked predevelopment record (26-108760-DC) requires a new transportation concurrency determination before the reconfiguration can be approved — the procedural reason it has stayed pending.
Source ↗TRC's Quarterly Progress Report No. 19 to the Department of Ecology (dated June 4, posted June 11) is the first to point at imminent field work: it lists 'preparation for site redevelopment and site characterization activities planned for the end of June 2026' — the next on-site step after January's groundwater sampling. Its tentative milestone schedule has demolition in Q2 2026, contained-in (CID) soil characterization and a contained-in disposal decision in Q2–Q3 2026, remedial excavation in Q3–Q4 2026, an interim remedial action complete by Q4 2026–Q1 2027, and the final Remedial Action Report in Q2–Q3 2027 — all expressly contingent on Bellevue permitting and market conditions. The next report (No. 20) is due September 10.
Source ↗With the demolition permit issued, Dickson Demolition has equipment on the block and is taking the two buildings down. Excavation waits on the mass-excavation/shoring and below-grade permits, both still in city review in mid-2026 — the below-grade permit is held pending structural drawings and an ongoing peer review — so Onni's hoped-for July excavation start is uncertain. A $53.5M Wells Fargo loan was recorded the prior year.
Source ↗Onni's Brendan Lawrence told a Bellevue Downtown Association breakfast the team is shifting from permitting into excavation and construction this summer.
Source ↗Coverage details the full program — 1,300+ homes, 400+ hotel suites, ~896k sf of office, two pools, a daycare and a 15,000 sf plaza — calling it the largest construction project in Washington State.
Source ↗After roughly eighteen quarterly reports of 'no work performed at the site,' crews collect groundwater samples for a dewatering assessment — the first field activity on the contaminated-site cleanup since it was re-enrolled in 2021, and an early sign of mobilization ahead of demolition.
Source ↗An environmental consultant's quarterly progress report to the Department of Ecology (Expedited Voluntary Cleanup Program No. XN0011) schedules contaminated-soil work to track the build: demolition and soil characterization in early 2026, remedial excavation in late 2026, and a final remedial action report in 2027.
Source ↗An approved update (permit 24-113252-LJ) trimmed below-grade parking from 2,479 stalls across seven levels to 1,712 across five, roughly doubled indoor bike storage to ~532, and relocated the central energy plant to Tower 1.
Source ↗The City of Bellevue approved the Master Development Plan and Design Review for the three-tower scheme.
Source ↗Onni Group bought the ~4-acre block from Sterling Realty Organization for about $116 million — recorded February 12, 2019 as a bargain-and-sale deed (King County excise #2973252), conveying title to ONNI 106th Ave Bellevue LLC.
Source ↗Keep exploring