Continuing its recent string of purchases in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, Vulcan purchased yet another building in SLU for $16 million or $1,140 per square foot for the 14,030 square foot plot. The group purchased the building at 753 9th Ave. N. from Newport Beach, CA-based R.D. Olson Investments II LLC.
“The recent purchase completes an assemblage of the half block along the west side of 9th Ave N. and is a potential expansion site for the Allen Institute,” said Lori Mason Curran, Vulcan’s real estate investment strategy director.
In October 2015, R.D. Olson Development, which specializes in hotel development, presented plans to the city for a nine-story, 113-unit hotel on the property. R.D. Olson Development, in conjunction with architect Degen & Degen, hoped to bring the hotel to life but plans didn’t come to fruition. Now, Vulcan has bought up the property.
Currently on the property sits a 9,225 square foot, two-story office building and parking lot. Flywheel Digital Seattle, which helps develop eCommerce campaigns for businesses, is a current tenant of 753 9th Ave. N.
Vulcan purchasing buildings in the SLU area isn’t unheard of. In fact, the group has been buying up land in the neighborhood with hopes to expand the Allen Institute, founded in 2003 by Paul Allen to better understand brain science. The Institute currently sits on the northwest corner of Mercer St. and Westlake Avenue N.
Vulcan recently purchased an 18,000 square foot plot at 707 Westlake Ave. N. for $16.5 million in February and acquired an adjacent property, where Art Marble 21 current sits, for $12.85 million from the Kenney family also in February. At the time of those two acquisitions, Mason Curran said the group plans to hold onto the property until they are ready for the future expansion of the Allen Institute.
