Take a first look at Seattle’s Hyatt Regency hotel

The new Hyatt Regency hotel, designed by LMN Architects, is taking shape at Eighth and Howell—or depending on how you look at it, Ninth and Stewart.

LMN shared new renderings of what the huge hotel will look like when complete, including a few sneak peeks at the interior.

When completed, the 45-story, 500-foot-tall hotel tower will rise atop the southwest corner of an eight-story podium, bisected mid-block. When it opens in 2018, it will add 1,264 rooms to downtown’s hotel supply.

That podium, which topped out in late April, will activate the space at the ground level, and will eventually contain some retail, including a grab-and-go market and a bar and restaurant.

The hotel’s lobby and 105,000 square feet of meeting space, including a ballroom, fill a two-story base in the podium.

Both the lobby and external gathering spaces feature a geometric motif of nested triangles on the ceiling, adding a crystalline feel above large windows and cathedral ceilings.

Hotel projects are sprouting up at a frenzied pace. A 2016 Downtown Seattle Association report measured 3,000 new hotel rooms delivered in the following two years. Since then, Skanska signed a contract to build a 16-story hotel at Second Avenue and Stewart Street.

Developer R.C. Hedreen is developing both the Hyatt Regency hotel and another “more luxurious” hotel next door.

• Seattle’s soon-to-be largest hotel will be a Hyatt Regency [CS]
• Hyatt Regency Seattle [CS]
• Seattle will have almost 3,000 new hotel rooms by 2018 [CS]
• Skanska signs $51.8M contract to build 2nd & Stewart hotel [CS]
• Hedreen is just gonna keep building Seattle hotels until you say so [CS]

This article has been updated to reflect the correct number of stories.