The Slater Avenue office building in Kirkland, located at 11241 Slater Ave. NE just sold in a transaction that closed on July 7th for $13.6 million. The seller of the property was Wesmar Investments, and the buyer was an entity associated with Schuler Residential Inc. The building is just under 39,000 square feet, bringing the per square foot price of the asset to around $350. According to sources that track leasing in the Kirkland market, the building was fully leased at the time of the sale.
Slater Avenue Office Building is a two story structure that was built in 1997. It is considered a Class B asset that has visibility and access to US Highway 405. It is also close to many amenities that Kirkland has to offer, including Gold’s Gym, Kinder Care, Urban Coffee Lounge and Shari’s Restaurant, to name a few.
According to a recent, first quarter of 2017 Broderick Group Eastside Office Market Overview, the first quarter of 2017 saw robust demand and absorption across all submarkets with the exception of the I-90 Corridor and Bothell. Since the Great Recession vacancy has steadily declined while the average gross rental rate has been increasing across the Eastside. In the first quarter of 2017, the report recorded vacancy at 11.5 percent, which was projected to be around 8.9 percent for the year, and asking rates at $33.14, projected to bump up to $34.09 for the year. However, the Kirkland submarket is in a group of Eastside cities like Bellevue and Redmond, with greater demand that brings vacancy between 5.5 percent – 7.5 percent.
Notable transactions this year include Menlo Properties selling Kirkland Commons, a 50,000 square foot two-story office building primarily leased to Arris Group. The buyer was JACE, LLC, a group made up of the Ding Family, who owns a number of business parks throughout the Eastside and Southend. Kirkland Commons sold for $12.4 million ($240 per square foot), according to the report.
Kirkland’s office market will increase when Talon Private Capital completes two buildings, Kirkland Urban North and Kirkland Urban Central, each at 190,000 square feet, which are projected to be ready for occupancy in 2018. Just under half of each building has already been leased, states the Broderick report, by Tableau Software and Wave Broadband. Google also occupies 180,000 square feet in the city that has a total inventory of approximately 3.1 million square feet.
