By Jack Stubbs
U-Haul has plans to expand its operations in Tukwila.
A two-building office property in Tukwila sold last week on Wednesday, February 7th for $19.5 million, according to public records filed with King County. The buyer of the property was Phoenix, Arizona-based Amerco Real Estate, the parent company of U-Haul that provides a variety of services to the moving company. The asset was sold by Boeing, who originally purchased the property in 1989 from two local developers for $54.6 million, according to public records.
The building was represented by Newmark Knight Frank’s broker Tim O’Keefe and a team led by Kevin Shannon in a NKF California office.
The two office buildings, located at 2925 S 112th St., total 375,000 square feet and were built in 1988, according to public records.
U-Haul has various plans for the Tukwila property, according to Kim Merow, U-Haul Company of South Seattle president. “I am very excited to bring convenient U-Haul products and services to the Tukwila community. U-Haul Moving & Storage of Duwamish plans to offer U-Haul truck and trailer sharing and moving supplies,” she said.
Additionally, the company has future plans for the 12-acre property that it will implement in due time. In the meantime, however, U-Haul’s acquisition of the buildings will allow the company to provide a variety of services to the surrounding community, according to Merow. “In the future, we hope to have a variety of self-storage options available, including climate-controlled storage and affordable price points. We will also explore options to lease space in order to support local businesses,” she said.
Located on the Duwamish River, the property is approximately four miles to the northwest of Renton and about three miles south of Georgetown. Additionally, the property is roughly four miles from access to Washington State Route 99 and Interstate 5.
Boeing’s sale of the asset in Tukwila is its second disposition in recent months. In November 2017, the company sold four office buildings in Bellevue to Talon Private Capital for $35.7 million.
On behalf of U-Haul, Amerco acquires a variety of different property types—including existing buildings for conversion to self storage, self-storage buildings and vacant land—and also leases commercial and industrial space, according to the company’s web site. In terms of its acquisition strategy, the company looks for existing buildings that include big boxes and warehouses with 60,000 gross square feet or greater for conversion to internalized self-storage.
