The M Seattle.

Project brief

The M Seattle is a 24-story student housing tower at 4700 Brooklyn Ave NE, on the northeast corner of Brooklyn Ave NE and NE 47th St in Seattle's University District. Its land use application covered 227 apartments, ranging from studios to five-bedroom units. Those apartments sit above about 5,600 square feet of street-level retail and a small below-grade garage. Fields Holdings of Los Angeles developed the project, NBBJ designed it, and UEB Builders of Seattle built it.

The tower replaced a former Chevron gas station. It became possible after the 2017 rezoning of the U District raised the site's height limit from 65 to 240 feet, and an earlier mid-rise scheme for the lot was dropped. NBBJ's design places a slender tower on a low podium, and the project was described as the first high-rise developed in the neighborhood in 30 years. A rooftop Sky Deck holds a landscaped terrace with grills, fire pits and lounge seating, and early plans also called for study rooms, a fitness center and a theater. The building stands about a block from the U District light rail station, which opened in 2021. The city records the project as completed in July 2020.

In 2018 BOGZA produced exterior and interior renderings, an animation and floor plans for the tower. Among them is a street-corner view showing the dark grid facade rising above the ground-floor shops.