It is first skyscraper in the South Lake Union neighborhood and is one of the few highrise buildings outside the traditional boundaries of Downtown Seattle.

The building is located at the intersection of Denny Way and Terry Avenue, near the headquarters of The Seattle Times and the Cornish College of the Arts.

Developer Holland Partner Group contracted architecture firm Weber Thompson to design a building that reflected both the industrial origins of the neighborhood (as seen in the six-story brick podium) as well as the high-tech future (as seen in the tower's glass exterior).

[8] The design was approved by the city of Seattle in December 2015,[9] allowing for construction to begin in January 2016 with the demolition of a three-story warehouse on the project site that was built in 1927.

[12] Kiara was sold by Holland in 2020 to Oxford Properties, a Canadian real estate investor, for approximately $320 million.