By Jack Stubbs
Last week on Friday, May 11th, a 23,400 square foot retail/office building, retail store and associated parking lot in Kirkland sold for a combined $44.2 million, according to public documents for three separate transactions filed with King County. The buyer of the three properties was Bellevue-based Continental Properties Inc., a residential development company. The seller was Lake Street Building LLC, an entity affiliated with Stuart McLeod based in Kirkland.
The buyer did not respond to calls for comment about the transaction in time for the publishing of this story, and it is not yet clear what plans Continental Properties has for the purchased parcels. Stuart McLeod declined to comment on the transaction.
The first property, which sold for $20.1 million, is located at 130 Lake Street S. The parcel includes a two-story retail/office building built in 1987 that totals 23,423 square feet. The second parcel, located at 15 Main Street S., contains a 25,226 square foot parking lot which the buyer acquired for $14.9 million. The third property, which sold for $9.2 million, contains a 7,381 square foot retail building constructed in 1918 that is currently home to Hector’s Restaurant.
The property is roughly five miles north of downtown Bellevue and roughly three miles south of Totem Lake. Additionally, the property sits on the edge of Moss Bay and is just half a mile from Peter Kirk Park and Heritage Park and is approximately two miles from access to Interstate-405.
Founded in 1977, Continental Properties and its predecessors, Continental-Bentall LLC and Continental Pacific Inc., have built over 3,000 multifamily units in the Pacific Northwest, according to the company’s web site. While it is not yet clear what plans Continental Properties has for the purchased parcels on Lake St., the company has another development in the works less than half a mile away: the 128-unit Kirkland Main Street Apartments, which is set for completion in summer 2018. The company also has several other residential projects in the pipeline: the 80-unit Queen Anne 2nd Ave. Apartments are set for completion in winter 2018, while the 137-unit Bellevue Vuecrest Apartments and the 124-unit Bellevue Parkside Apartments are set for completion in summer 2018 and fall 2019, respectively.
The company’s acquisition of the Kirkland property adds to its portfolio of six other apartment properties in Kirkland, some of which include the the 110-unit Kirkland Central Apartments, the 73-unit Capri Apartments and the 131-unit Carillon Heights Apartments.
Another of Continental Properties’ assets was in the news last fall, when Weidner Apartment Homes acquired the 313-unit, 34-story Tower12 Apartments in downtown Seattle for $225.25 million, or approximately $719,648 per unit.
