By Jon Peterson
Los Angeles-based CBRE Global Investors has paid $19.5 million to acquire the 65,000 square foot office building in Seattle located at 1813 Westlake Avenue North, according to sources familiar with the transaction.
CBRE Investors declined to comment when contacted for the story. The real estate manager acquired the property for one of its separate account pension fund clients.
The seller of the property is Tribune Media through its Tribune Real Estate Holdings operation. Tribune Media is the only tenant in the building as it houses the television studios for TV station KCPQ, the local Fox affiliate for Seattle. This tenant has a long term lease in the property. This gives the property some different features than one would see in a typical office building given that it houses a television studio.
The seller of the property completed the transaction through the listing agent, the CBRE office in Seattle. A person involved in the sale was Thomas Pehl, senior vice president of institutional properties.
The cap rate on the sale came in at a sub six percent range, according to sources that were aware of the transaction. This return is based on the current rent being produced by the property.
The property is located in between the South Lake Union and Fremont sub-markets in Seattle. In this region there is a lot of new activity with office buildings and multifamily apartment projects that make it an attractive area to own real estate.