By Jack Stubbs
Activity in the industrial market in the Puget Sound region shows no signs of slowing, and another industrial property in SeaTac recently changed hands.
On Friday, March 16th, Seattle-based Columbia Pacific Advisors sold three buildings—which are part of the Olympic Industrial Park—in SeaTac for $12.9 million, according to public records filed with King County. The buyer of the three properties was Glenn and Melinda Stearns, trustees of the Stearns Family Living Trust based in Wilson, Wyoming. The transaction was recorded on March 21st.
Columbia Pacific Advisors is making a significant profit on the property, which the company acquired for $6.4 million in 2015. The seller did not respond to calls for comment about the transaction in time for the publishing of this story.
The transaction was for three properties located along Des Moines Memorial Drive in the city of SeaTac. The first property, located at 19111 Des Moines Memorial Drive S., is a 73,250 square foot warehouse/distribution facility built in 1983, according to public documents. The building is currently occupied by Seattle Transportation Services and Seattle Air Cargo, according to Google Maps.
The second structure, an office building located adjacent to the warehouse, sits on a 9,900 square foot lot, while the third building, located at 1200 S. 192nd St., is a three-story Class C office building that totals 17,746 square feet. According to Google Maps, the office building is currently occupied by International Rescue Committee, a social services organization, and Air-Sea Forwarders, a shipping and logistics company.
The three-parcel property is roughly three miles to the south of SeaTac airport and approximately 2 miles to the north of Des Moines. Additionally, the property is less than two miles from access to Washington State Route 509 and about one mile from Highway 99.
Columbia Pacific Advisors’ real estate investment strategy spans multiple asset classes—including senior housing, multifamily, office, retail, hospitality, industrial and self-storage, among others—and the company specializes in the acquisition, development and repositioning of assets, according to its web site.
The Puget Sound region industrial market has been active over the last few months, according to a fourth quarter 2017 Seattle Industrial Real Estate Market Overview report written by Kidder Mathews. The Puget Sound region industrial market delivered nearly 1.3 million square feet in fourth quarter 2017, and the vacancy rate dropped from 3.3 percent to 3 percent. For the year, nearly 6 million square feet was absorbed, a figure that kept pace with deliveries of almost 6.2 million square feet in 2017. There is currently 5.4 million square feet of industrial space (17 buildings) under construction with another 14.1 million square feet in the pipeline, according to the report. The majority of the projects in the pipeline are in Pierce and Thurston counties. In Pierce county, there are 8 projects (totaling 3,330,245 square feet) under construction.
Some of the notable sales in 2017 include Clarion Partners’ acquisition of the Renton Logistics Center for approximately $67.5 million from TIAA; Peregrine Realty Properties’ capture of the North Creek Parkway Center for $36.5 million from KBS Realty Advisors; and TIAA’s sale of the Lakewood Corporate Park for $23.9 million, according to the report.
