By Jon Peterson
New York City-based DWS, formerly known as RREEF, is planning to acquire the 94,335 square foot First and Stewart office building in Seattle for $53 million, according to sources with direct knowledge of this transaction.
The deal has not closed yet, and DWS declined to comment when contacted for this story. The seller of the property is Dallas-based L&B Realty Advisors. This real estate investment firm did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment for this story.
The pending acquisition of the office building was approved by the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System at its board meeting in late September, as stated by the pension fund in an email. This transaction will be made as a separate account investment with DWS.
The First and Stewart office building in located at 101 Stewart Street in Seattle, where the Pike Place Market, Belltown the Retail Core and the central business district converge. The property is 95 percent occupied, and according to the property’s website there is currently only 5,267 square feet of space available in the building. One of the tenants in the property is Snapchat, which leases approximately 8,000 square feet. JLL is the listing agent on the property led by Cleita Harvey, Jim Allison and Lisa Stewart.
Tennessee Consolidated has a national investment strategy for its real estate holdings, preferring to acquire properties on a separate account basis. At its September board meeting, it also approved two other acquisitions and one preferred equity investment.
One of the other planned acquisitions was also on the West Coast. This is the future $72 million purchase of the 310-unit FountainGlen Golden West apartment complex in Orange County, Calif. The manager on this deal is J.P. Morgan. The other acquisition was a $45.3 million deal to buy the 150-unit Julian Fair Lakes apartment asset in Fairfax, Va. Heitman is the advisor on that transaction.
DWS was involved in the preferred equity investment with Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System in the past. This was for the $23.2 million purchase of the 493-unit 4th West Apartments complex in Salt Lake City, UT.
