Another Amazon-leased property in Seattle has traded hands. This time, the Munich-based GLL Real Estate Partners is disposing of the 130,530 square-foot property located at 202 Westlake Ave. N it has owned for less than five years in a deal worth $129.5 million, according to public records. The buyer of the property is Chicago-based LaSalle Investment Management, which will be paying just over $992 per square foot for the six-story building.
GLL had purchased the building in September of 2013, the same year in which it was completed, and it paid $97.4 million for it, or just over $854 per square foot, from San Francisco-based Spear Street Capital. Spear Street was the original developer of the project along with two local companies, First Western Development Services and Stephen C. Grey & Associates. At the time of the sale to GLL, the building had already been fully leased by Amazon.
“This transaction validates our original decision to invest in Seattle and went exceptionally smoothly. We thank everyone involved from Eastdil, who helped us market the property, to Amazon, which has been such a fantastic tenant for us over the last five years,” said Dana Gibson, chief investment officer, in a statement.
“We also thank LaSalle Investment Management for working so diligently with us and wish them the best of success with this asset in the future,” Karim Ders, transaction officer, added.
The Donahou Design Group Architects-designed building is in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, on the corner of Westlake Ave. N and John Street. The neighborhood is home to a number of Amazon-occupied buildings, some of which have traded recently, as the global retail and technology giant continues its expansion across the city’s downtown core. The six-story property is 100 percent leased on a long-term basis to Amazon, and sits at the epicenter of Amazon’s 1.8 million-square-foot original lower rise headquarters location and, when fully completed, its 4.1 million-square-foot high-rise office campus.
The property also includes just over 19,000 square feet of retail located on the first floor as well as a four-story subterranean parking garage for 224 spaces, according to the building’s development plans.
In addition, the building sits on the light rail line, and it is a block away from the Westlake & Thomas stop, which connects riders to the rest of the city. Along with Amazon occupying most of the structure, Umpqua Bank has a branch inside the building on the first floor, and a number of restaurants occupy the ground floor retail spaces, including Chipotle Mexican Grill and Homegrown Sustainable Sandwich Shop.
Eastdil Secured marketed the project on behalf of the seller.
Some of the recently traded Amazon-occupied properties in the neighborhood include Tilt49, developed by Seattle-based Touchstone, built by Minneapolis, MN-based Mortenson Construction and designed by ZGF Architects. This property sold for $268.5 million, or $924 per square foot in December of 2017, to Takenaka Corporation out of Tokyo, Japan. In June of 2017, Germany-based Union Investment Real Estate GmbH had paid approximately $330 million, or $884 per square foot to acquire the 373,000 square foot Midtown21 office building in downtown Seattle, which is also leased to Amazon. The seller of the property was New York City-based MetLife and its development partner, Trammell Crow Company. That same month, Karigo LLC, which is affiliated with Commonwealth Realty Trust, acquired the 88,225 square foot office building located at 428 Westlake for $81.5 million, or $924 per square foot. The seller was Seattle-based Vulcan.
However, probably the most anticipated sale of this year is the Amazon-leased Troy Block, the 811,520 square-foot property developed by Seattle-based Touchstone and financial partner USAA Real Estate, which is marketed by HFF. According to one source, given the size of the project, the pricing will likely exceed $650 million and could reach even higher pricing if the per square foot pricing levels surpass $900.
