A mixed-use building known as George F. Russell, Jr. Hall, at 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 42nd Street promises to update the Ave infrastructure and offer new amenities to the public. The hall is set to open this fall.

The building plans to house 30 studio and one-bedroom apartments on the top two floors, with 40,000 square feet of office space on the middle three floors. The remaining portion of the building is reserved for housing retail stores, with parking spaces on four levels.

The new hall is being developed by Unico Properties, a real estate investment and operating company whose headquarters are in Seattle.

According to Jonas Sylvester, Unico’s vice president of investments, Russell Hall will be providing 120 parking stalls to make shopping easier for students and residents on the Ave. The building will also have a green roof that will reduce storm runoff and pressure on the current storm water system.

Plans for the hall also include a concept called dumpster-free alleys, which are just that.

“The city of Seattle has a contract for daily trash pickup of secured trash bags in some areas of the city, resulting in the elimination of dumpsters,” Sylvester said. “This alleviates the physical space that dumpsters require and the daily pickup eliminates many of the odors associated with garbage when it sits in dumpsters.”

Sylvester believes students will enjoy other additions as well, including new retail stores and green apartments that will be part of the new hall. Prices for apartments have not yet been set, but people interested in housing at the hall can go to russellhallatuw.com to express an interest in apartments and suggest their desired rent per month.

“A Fortune 500 company, along with other smaller firms, are interested in the office space,” Sylvester said. “These companies see it as an opportunity to reach and recruit the top-tier students who study at the University of Washington.”

During the early stages of Russell Hall’s development, 2,500 petition signatures were collected for an alternative plan including an open plaza and a building half the size, according to the Jan. 5, 2006 edition of Eat the State!, a local anti-authoritarian newspaper.

“It was an alternative plan that was more community-oriented,” said Nathaniel Jackson, a co-owner of Café Allegro for 18 years, who remembers the petition.

In recent years, Café Allegro, located in the alley next to the new hall, has been in direct proximity to the construction of the building.

“I don’t know if [the construction] has affected us negatively,” he said. “But we have established a good working relationship with them. There’s no animosity between us.”

Jackson’s main concern with Russell Hall is the loss of open space and the lack of sunlight in the café. But he feels that the community has bonded during the development of the project, which was initially seen as a potential threat.

Teresa Lord Hugel, executive director of the Greater University Chamber of Commerce, believes Russell Hall will improve the district.

“It’s better than a blank parking lot,” she said. “It’s also better for commerce and the community, and provides more housing.”

According to Hugel, the project was temporarily stalled after the UW, who had agreed to be Unico’s primary commercial tenant, bought the Safeco building and pulled out of the project.

So far, the structural aspects of the hall’s parking garage have been finished. In August, tenant spaces will be built after completing the perimeter walls and the building’s core.

Reach contributing writer Jenica Rhee at news@dailyuw.com.