By Jack Stubbs
Downtown Bellevue has been a hotbed of transactional activity over the last several months, with several assets having traded hands in recent quarters. On December 10th, New York-based Clarion Partners spent $53.5 million to acquire the Washington Federal Building in downtown Bellevue, public documents show. The seller of the property was Washington Federal Bank headquartered in Seattle.
The seven-story Washington Federal Building, located at 400 108th Ave. NE, is a 76,000 square foot office building offering smaller floor plates ideal for small- to mid-size tenants, according to Bellevue Downtown Association’s web site. Major tenants located within the Washington Federal Center include Washington Federal Bank, Overlake Hospital Medical Center and Bellevue Downtown Association.
Occupying a central location in the city’s downtown core, the property is just blocks from several downtown attractions including Bellevue Square, Bellevue Arts Museum and Bellevue Plaza, and is also directly across the street from Bellevue City Hall. Washington Federal is one block from the Bellevue Transit Center, and is also proximate to various parking facilities including One Bellevue Center Parking; Tower 333 Expedia Building Garage; and City Center Bellevue Parking.
Over the last few quarters, Clarion Partners has been active across Lake Washington as well as in Bellevue, according to The Registry’s reporting. In December 2018, Clarion purchased the 74,853 square foot 500 Yale Avenue North office building in Seattle’s ever-active South Lake Union neighborhood for $52.3 million, or close to $699 per square foot, from Seattle-based Urban Renaissance Group and its capital source from Chile.
The sale of the Washington Federal Building is the latest of a number of assets that have traded hands in Fourth Quarter 2019. In early November, the four-story, 41,000 square foot Newport Place Office building in Bellevue’s Factoria neighborhood sold for $20 million, with Kunlian Investment Holding LLC acquiring the property from Bellevue-based Newport Place Associates LLC.
In late November, Los Angeles-based Preylock Real Estate Holdings spent $117 million, or approximately $460 per square foot, to acquire the four-building, 253,857 square foot 90 North Business Park—formerly home to Boeing and currently located in close proximity to major companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Verizon—from Chicago-based Walton Street Capital.
