If there was any concern about the strength of the Seattle commercial real estate market, this week’s announcement by one of the nation’s most prominent investment firms should dispel any apprehension. Boston Properties, in an announcement earlier this week, disclosed that it executed a $730 million ($960 per square foot) agreement in April of 2022 to acquire the 760,000 square foot, 37-story Class A office building in Seattle known as Madison Centre located at 920 5th Avenue.
This deal has not closed, yet.
Boston Properties (BXP) sees this property as one of the newest commercial high rises in the city with one of the most generous amenity offerings in the market, according to a statement. Madison Centre will be featured as a showpiece and foundational asset for the company’s expansion in the Seattle market, Boston Properties added in a statement.
The NBBJ-designed building, formerly known as M5 or 505 Madison, was sold a partnership between Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers (now Barings) and Schnitzer West. The two companies developed the property for $157 million, according to a Wikipedia post about the building, and completed it in 2017. The building is the thirteenth-tallest building in Seattle, according to the property website on Wikipedia. It is located at the intersection of 5th Avenue and Madison Street in Downtown Seattle, adjacent to the Seattle Central Library and William Kenzo Nakamura United States Courthouse.
Hulu is one of the major tenants in the property. According to industry reports, the streaming media company signed a lease of 67,400 square feet in April of 2019. The building also features retail space on the ground floor, which is occupied by Amazon Go, the retail giant’s second cashier-less convenience store, which opened in August of 2018.
Boston Propeties, which is the largest publicly traded developer, owner and manager of Class A office properties in the United States made its initial entry into the Seattle market in July of 2021 when it spent $465 million (around $574 per square foot) to acquire Safeco Plaza, a 50-story, 800,000 square-foot, LEED-Platinum certified, Class A office property. Safeco Plaza occupies a full city block in Seattle’s Central Business District with panoramic views of the Seattle skyline, Puget Sound and Olympic Mountains. This property is one block away from the newly acquired Madison Centre.
“We are delighted to enter the Seattle market with the acquisition of this iconic property in the center of the city’s business district,” said Kelley Lovshin, Director, Business Development – Seattle of Boston Properties at the time the Safeco Plaza acquisition was announced. “With its locational prominence, high-quality tenant base, and strong track record of tenant retention, Safeco Plaza will provide significant future growth opportunities for BXP. We look forward to establishing BXP as the landlord of choice for Safeco Plaza tenants and to becoming a valuable partner with the Seattle community.”
