Arrivé
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Arrivé ( ) is a , 41-story skyscraper in the Belltown neighborhood of
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
,
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
. The $190 million project, originally named Potala Tower after the
Potala Palace Potala Palace ( Tibetan: པོ་ཏ་ལ་ཕོ་བྲང​​ Chinese: 布达拉宫) is the name of a museum in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China, built in the ''dzong''-style. It was previously a palace of t ...
in
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...
, was designed by Weber Thompson and consists of 344 apartments and a 142-room hotel. It was financed partially by Chinese nationals through the
EB-5 visa The United States EB-5 visa, ''employment-based fifth preference category'' or ''EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program'' was created in 1990 by the Immigration Act of 1990. It provides a method for eligible immigrant investors to become lawfu ...
program and began construction in April 2015. Construction was put on hold in August 2015, when the assets of project developer Lobsang Dargey were frozen by a court order after a civil fraud suit by the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...
(SEC). The SEC alleges that Dargey diverted funds from the project for his own personal uses, including the purchase of his
Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...
home and gambling. The project was then transferred to a court-appointed receiver and later stripped of its EB-5 eligibility. In May 2016, the presiding judge approved a plan by two firms to buy out Dargey's share of the project and restart construction, pending approval from EB-5 investors; in October, the two companies signed an agreement to restart construction and re-brand the project. The tower was completed and opened in February 2019.


Design and architecture

Arrivé was designed by Seattle architecture firm Weber Thompson with elements referencing the Seattle Cinerama movie theater, located adjacent to the property. The project was originally called "Cinema Tower", prior to its transfer to Dargey Development. The tower itself is 41 stories, including of retail space at ground level, 329 parking spaces, 142 hotel rooms, and 344 apartments comprising floors 11 through 41. Amenities include a 7th floor deck for the hotel and a rooftop terrace for apartment residents; the original design for the rooftop deck included an outdoor movie theater. The Sound Hotel operates within the tower, occupying floors 2 through 10, and includes a lounge, meeting spaces, a fitness center, and a bistro. The apartments range from
studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...
to a penthouse. , the project was seeking a LEED Silver certification.


History


Planning and construction

The site, facing 4th Avenue between Blanchard and Lenora streets and located adjacent to the Seattle Cinerama theater in Belltown, was bought by HAL Real Estate Investments in 2008 for $5 million. HAL applied for permits to build a 38-story building with 365 apartments, called the "Cinema Tower". In 2013, developer Lobsang Dargey bought the property from HAL for $11.5 million, and announced his intention to build a
mixed-use Mixed use is a type of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning classification that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions ...
tower on the site. Dargey, a former
Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...
monk who immigrated to Seattle in 1997, planned to finance the project with
EB-5 visa The United States EB-5 visa, ''employment-based fifth preference category'' or ''EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program'' was created in 1990 by the Immigration Act of 1990. It provides a method for eligible immigrant investors to become lawfu ...
s through his company, Path America. The project's approach to EB-5 financing was also promoted by
Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
Brad Owen Bradley Scott Owen (born May 23, 1950) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 15th Lieutenant Governor of Washington from 1997 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was previously elected to the Washington State Legi ...
during a state trip to
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
in 2014. The proposed tower, renamed "Potala Tower" after the
Potala Palace Potala Palace ( Tibetan: པོ་ཏ་ལ་ཕོ་བྲང​​ Chinese: 布达拉宫) is the name of a museum in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China, built in the ''dzong''-style. It was previously a palace of t ...
in
Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...
,
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...
, was unveiled in July 2014;
Hotel Indigo Hotel Indigo by IHG is a global brand group of small, individually owned boutique hotels, which is part of IHG Hotels & Resorts (InterContinental Hotels Group). As of June 2024, it has 156 hotels with over 20,000 rooms worldwide, and has stated ...
was identified as the operator of the 142-hotel in the tower. Construction on the project was scheduled to begin later that year and end by 2017. Dargey was joined by Mayor Ed Murray and actor
Tom Skerritt Thomas Roy Skerritt (born August 25, 1933) is an American actor and director, who has appeared in over 170 film and television productions since 1962. The beginning of his film career coincided with the New Hollywood movement, with a breakthroug ...
, a personal friend of his, at a
groundbreaking ceremony Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, turf-cutting, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such cer ...
for the project on August 28, 2014. The ceremony, which included a blessing from Buddhist monks and participants wearing traditional
khata A ''khata'' or ''khatag'' is a traditional ceremonial scarf in Tibetan Buddhism and in Tengriism. It is widely used by the Tibetan, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Ladakhi, Mongolian, Buryat, and Tuvan peoples on various occasions. It originated in Tib ...
s (a type of ceremonial Buddhist scarf), marked the beginning of demolition for the Dean Transmissions building on the site. Site excavation, marking the actual start of construction, began the following April under the direction of
PCL Construction The PCL family of companies is a group of independent General contractor, general contracting construction companies in Canada, the United States, Australia and the Caribbean. PCL has headquarters in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with the United Stat ...
. A construction permit to build the tower was issued on August 17, 2015.


Halt in construction

On August 24, 2015, the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...
(SEC) filed in a civil
securities fraud Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information.U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...
against Dargey and Path America, the company managing the EB-5 financing of the Potala Tower project and several others in the region. The following day, Dargey's assets were seized, forcing construction on the tower to halt; by then, excavation had reached a depth of and PCL announced that it would stop construction. The SEC alleged that Dargey diverted $17.6 million of at least $125 million raised through the EB-5 program and misused them on himself, including the purchase of his
Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...
home, transfers between projects, and gambling at casinos as far away as
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
. In October, U.S. District Court Judge
James Robart James Louis Robart (born September 2, 1947) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Early life and education Robart was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1947. Robart's f ...
ordered that Path America and its assets be removed from Dargey's control and placed into
receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...
, including the Potala Tower project. A recovery plan was filed in January by the court receiver, proposing to sell all of Path America's projects, which Dargey and several investors opposed on the grounds of possible loss of EB-5 eligibility.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that administers the country's naturalization and Immigration to the United States, immigration system. History ...
instead revoked the Potala Tower project of EB-5 eligibility in March 2016, closing the possibility of granting green cards for project investors. The receiver was granted partial approval to sell the project in April; 13 bids were received for the property and/or project, including from local firm Vulcan Real Estate, Las Vegas-based Molasky Group, and Chinese developer Binjiang Tower Corporation (an original investor in the project). On May 20, 2016, Judge James Robart approved a plan submitted by the receiver on behalf of Molasky and Binjiang, committing $30 million to the project and allowing for construction to resume pending final approval by foreign investors; Dargey approved the plan after a deal was struck with the new developers to pay $1.8 million of the attorney fees he had accrued during the trial.


Resumption of construction

On October 6, Molasky and Binjiang signed an agreement to restart construction of the project, which would be renamed and rebranded. Work on the project resumed later that month, and is scheduled to be completed in January 2019. In February 2017, Molasky and Binjiang announced that the project had raised $325 million in funds to continue work on the project. The project was rebranded as "Arrivé" in May 2017 and was
topped out In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed at the top of a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is ofte ...
the following year. The hotel portion, operated by
Hilton Worldwide Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. is an American multinational hospitality company that manages and franchises a broad portfolio of hotels, resorts, and timeshare properties. Founded by Conrad Hilton in May 1919, the company is now led by Chris ...
under their Tapestry Collection brand as The Sound Hotel, opened on February 12, 2019. The project's construction loan was retired in September 2021 and allowed to regain its EB-5 eligibility under a new financing agreement for $102.7 million by Gantry.


References


External links

* {{good article 2019 establishments in Washington (state) Hotel buildings completed in 2019 Residential buildings completed in 2019 Residential skyscrapers in Seattle Skyscraper hotels in Seattle Buildings and structures in Belltown, Seattle