Kirkland Construction

Two growing Seattle-area tech companies have just launched a major real estate development in downtown Kirkland.

Tableau Software (NYSE: DATA) and broadband services company Wave have leased a total of around 175, 000 square feet of office space at a long-planned mixed-use project in downtown Kirkland, a source familiar with the deals said Thursday.

CITY OF KIRKLAND

The source, who asked not to be named, said Tableau has leased 90, 000 square feet of space in one planned building in Kirkland Urban, the new name of the project formerly called Parkplace.

Wave leased a similar amount of space in a second, the source said. Both companies are in an existing building on the 11.5-acre property at Central Avenue and Sixth Street.

The deals are expected to kick off construction of the largest ever real estate development in downtown Kirkland. Kirkland Urban, a phased development, ultimately will have up to nearly 1.2 million square feet of commercial and residential space, according to information the developer submitted to the city. Just over half would be office, and that is enough room for an estimated 3, 000 employees.

Spokesmen for Tableau and Wave on Thursday said the companies had nothing to announce. Talon, the Kirkland Urban developer, did not comment, and one of its leasing representatives, Bret Jordan of Colliers International, said he could neither confirm nor deny the leases. Representatives of real estate brokerage Flinn Ferguson, which represents Tableau and Wave, could not be reached.

City of Kirkland Senior Planner Angela Ruggeri said construction could start as early as next month and will happen in 2016. City Building Plans Examiner Angela Haupt added that Talon has applied for a permits to demolish part of the retail building east of the QFC grocery. In addition, the developer has applied for a permit to build a four-level underground parking garage, which Haupt said will have 1, 700 stalls.

Ruggeri said the first phase will consist of a residential building at Central and Sixth and two office buildings. The first will be on Central, and the second will be just to the south. QFC will move into the base of the second office building, she said. In addition, the existing office building where Wave and Tableau are tenants will be remodeled as part of the phase I. Talon Founding Principal Jim Neal last fall told the Kirkland Reporter that the residential building will have 190 apartments.