Ren, stylized as REN and also known as Denny Centre, is a residential

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

in the Denny Triangle 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, United States. The 42-story tower has 440 apartments and is located on a triangular lot at the intersection of

Denny Way Denny Way is an east–west Arterial road, arterial street in Downtown Seattle, downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. It forms the northern end of the Belltown, Seattle, Belltown street grid as well as the boundaries of Belltown, Lower Q ...

and Fairview Avenue. Construction began in 2018 and was completed in early 2022.

History

The triangular lot on the southeast side of

and Fairview Avenue was home to a two-story office and retail building named the Denny Center, which was built in 1937. The lot was purchased by Vancouver-based Bosa Properties for $8 million in May 2007, with plans to not redevelop the building immediately. The firm filed plans to build a 450-unit residential tower on the property with the city government in September 2015. Bosa Properties, owned by Robert Bosa, was joined in the Denny Triangle neighborhood by Bosa Development (owned by his brother, Nat Bosa), who developed the Insignia Towers complex. A preliminary design for the 41-story tower by

ZGF Architects ZGF Architects LLP (ZGF), formerly Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, is an American architectural firm based in Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pa ...

and Cotter Architects was unveiled in November 2015, featuring rounded edges to contrast with the "sharp, rectangular" designs of nearby high-rises. The tower's design underwent six revisions through consultations with the city government by the time its final

environmental impact statement An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An E ...

was released in February 2017. The project, renamed the Denny Centre, began construction in August 2018, a few months after the existing building had been demolished. To replace construction site visits during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, which restricted cross-border travel for the developers and architects based in Canada, remote tours via

360-degree video 360-degree videos, also known as surround video, or immersive videos or spherical videos, are video recordings where a view in every direction is recorded at the same time, shot using an omnidirectional camera or a collection of cameras. The term ...

were used by the contractors on the project. The tower was branded as "Ren" and began pre-leasing in October 2021. It was opened to its first residents in January 2022 and was 60 percent leased by June. In March 2023, Seattle-based pizzeria

Tutta Bella Tutta is a feminine name. People with this name include: *Tutta Rolf (born Solveig Jenny Berntzen; 1907–1994), Norwegian-born Swedish actress and singer *, Finnish singer *Tutta Larsen (born Tatyana Anatolyevna Romanenko, 1974), Ukrainian televisi ...

announced that they would be opening a restaurant, cafe, marketplace, and bar at Ren. The company was awarded the sole rights to the building's hospitality and restaurant spaces, which comprise a total of . The Lobby Bar on the ground floor opened in May 2023.

Design

Ren is a 42-story high-rise with 457 apartment units and a three-story

podium A podium (: podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of a ...

with of retail space. The tower has 308 parking stalls in a five-story underground garage accessed from Virginia Street. The tower has an undulating façade with softened edges, inspired by the "collision between two city grids". It has of amenity space, including a rooftop terrace, gym, co-working spaces, and a

dog spa The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. T ...

. The ''

Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce The ''Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce'' is a daily (six days per week) newspaper based in Seattle, Washington specializing in business, construction, real estate, and legal news and public notices. History Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce ...

'' named Ren the 2022 Building of the Year, with voters praising its curves and unique design. The building also won the Best Tall Building in the Americas by the

Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is an international body in the field of tall buildings, including skyscrapers, and Sustainable design, sustainable urban design. A non-profit organization based at the Monroe Building in ...

during their 2023 awards.

References

{{Seattle skyscrapers Buildings and structures in Denny Triangle, Seattle Residential skyscrapers in Seattle Residential buildings completed in 2022 2022 establishments in Washington (state)