In one of the busiest transaction weeks this region has seen in a while, the sales of commercial and multifamily properties continue unabated. In a transaction recorded December 19th, Los Angeles-based CIM Group purchased the 520-stall, 11-level parking structure adjacent to the Seattle Hilton located at 1301 6th Ave. for $42.6 million, according to public records. The seller was the global investment manager Barings.
The Sixth Avenue Garage is connected to the 5th Avenue Concourse, an underground walkway spanning five blocks, which provides direct access to the Convention Center, One and Two Union Square office towers, Rainer Tower office building as well as the 5th Avenue Theatre, a landmark theatre building hosting a variety of theatre productions and motion pictures. The garage is also one block from the Rainer Square mixed-use development. Visitors to the garage also have convenient vehicular access next to the adjacent I-5 Expressway on-ramp.
CIM has been involved in the Seattle area for more than 10 years after it qualified the area for investment, and where CIM could utilize its broad expertise of owning, developing, repositioning and operating properties to enhance the value of communities, according to a statement provided by the company.
The acquisition of the Sixth Avenue Garage adds to CIM’s Seattle portfolio which includes Pine Street Garage, an 844-stall, 11-level parking garage at 3rd Avenue and Pine Street; Dexter Horton Building, a 15-story, 335,000-sqare-foot Art Deco office building near Pioneer Square; and One Convention Place, a 17-story, approximately 312,000 square-foot Class A office building located on the southeast corner of Pike Street and 7th Avenue. CIM previously owned Butler Garage, a 12-story, 456-stall parking facility located in the Pioneer Square district, which the company has sold.
Barings has been active in the Puget Sound market over the years, however in 2019, its other notable transaction was another sale. In May of this year, the company sold the Stonemeadow Farms Apartments in Bothell for $81.8 million.
CIM, on the other hand, has been on the hunt to grow its portfolio in the region. In January of 2019, the company purchased the Dexter Horton office building in Seattle for $151 million.
CIM is a national investor and real estate manager with nearly $30 billion in total assets under management. It has been in business for nearly 25 years and has invested in over 100 communities. According to the company’s web site, the firm owns, operates and provides lending for a broad range of real estate and infrastructure asset types that support and benefit communities, from a high-rise apartment building in Manhattan to a solar field in California and a pharmacy in rural Indiana.
