By Meghan Hall
The site of KIRO Television, home to a Seattle CBS affiliate, has a new ownership structure. Cox Enterprises has brought on a new equity partner for the property for $36.4 million, or just under $492 per square foot, according to public documents. While the documents indicate that both entities are located at the same address on Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Atlanta, Ga., and that the transaction closed on December 17th, an announcement made by Cox Enterprises in February of this year indicates that the new equity partner is Apollo Global Management.
Located at 2807 Third Ave., the property is located at the heart of downtown Seattle. Assessor’s parcel data shows that the building, originally constructed in 1968, totals 74,003 square feet. The property is located just in between Lower Queen Anne and the Pike Place neighborhoods and is blocks from Olympic Sculpture Park.
In February of this year, Cox announced that it would be selling a majority stake of its portfolio in 14 television stations to an international investment firm headquartered in Georgia: Apollo Global Management. Cox owns or has interest in numerous television properties across the United States, including Boston, Charlotte, Memphis, Pittsburgh and others. The stations reach more than 31 million viewers worldwide.
Apollo Global Management will hold controlling interest in the television properties, with Cox maintaining a minority share. At the end of 2018, Apollo had about $280 million in assets. Cox began looking for a new equity partner in July of 2017 for the properties.
“We are extremely excited for our funds to acquire a majority interest in Cox Media Group’s broadcast television stations and are humbled by Cox Enterprises’ decision to entrust us to steward these stations and carry on the Cox legacy. We have an extraordinary amount of respect and admiration for the journalistic integrity, news quality, and commitment to community across Cox Media Group’s broadcast stations,” said David Sambur, Senior Partner at Apollo in a statement. “We look forward, in collaboration with Cox Enterprises, to supporting the high standards to which each station operates and contributing to the platform’s future growth and prosperity.”
