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Park Towers comprise tens of thousands of square feet of apartments and Class-A office space

by ROBERT SCHOENBERG,VBJ Staff Reporter

At Mill Plain One, a 76-acre mixed-use development at S.E. 126th Avenue and Mill Plain Boulevard, steel framework is rising for the third major office building to be constructed at the site. The 75,000-square-foot structure, owned by Park Plaza Inc. and the Ed Peitz family, will be named Park Tower III.
Lyn Lunde, marketing agent for Associated Brokers of Vancouver said the building was close to being 70 percent leased. However, a major tenant for the new building, Charter Communications, a St. Louis-based cable TV company owned by billionaire Paul Allen, recently backed out of leasing a major portion of the new building, up to 14,000 square feet of space, nearly one entire wing of the building.
“We couldn’t get the building done in time for them,” said Ed Peitz of Park Plaza Inc. “They couldn’t wait until September, when we could open.”
Groundbreaking at Mill Plain One development first began in 1994 with the 80,000-square-foot Park Tower I, a two-story, Class-A office complex. The 73,000-square-foot Park Tower II, also known as the Park Tower Addition, finished construction in 1997, and is connected to Park Tower I by a sky bridge.
Park Tower IV, a fourth office tower, will be built across Park Plaza drive, and Peitz said he hopes to get under way soon with the site reviews for that building.
“We are working on the plans now,” said Peitz. “It going to take about a year to get the permits.”
Park Tower IV will have approximately 120,000 square feet of office space.
The entire development site now includes: The Park at Mill Plain One, a 352-unit apartment complex owned and operated by the Trammel Crow Co.; Applebee’s, Sweet Tomatoes and McGrath’s restaurants; the 98-room Phoenix Inn hotel; a recently opened Kinko’s 24-hour copy center; both a branch location and the operations center for Columbia Credit Union; and the headquarters of Crafts American Group, a catalogue sales service.
Included at the site is a variety of aesthetically constructed storm water detention ponds, pedestrian walkways, benches, waterfalls and outdoor artwork that provide a park-like setting for the office workers and residents in the development. In addition, Ed Peitz places large sculptures, collected while on business trips, at the base of all the central staircases in the buildings. Peitz formerly built and operated 53 Red Lion Hotels & Inns before selling the company 15 years ago.
The Park Tower III’s steel structure is being assembled by Baugh Construction. The two-story, three-wing building will be available for occupancy by fall of this year. Bank of America provided financing for the project.