By Meghan Hall
Following on the heels of KKR’s massive $1.2 billion acquisition of The Summit and F5 Tower, Atlanta-based Invesco has made a big Bellevenue investment of its own taking the Bravern Office Commons in Bellevue for $585,060,299, or $727 per square foot, according to public documents. The transactions emphasize not just how important the Puget Sound real estate market has become for institutional buyers but also how motivated sellers are to close deals before the end of the year as Washington State’s new excise tax law takes effect after December 31st.
The seller of the property was Principal Real Estate Investors, based in Des Moines, Iowa. Principal Real Estate Investors purchased the property in 2010 for $410 million, or about $547 per square foot. Currently, the property is fully-leased to Microsoft.
The Bravern Office Commons includes 750,000 square feet of office space above The Shops at Bravern, a 313,119 square foot retail destination in Bellevue’s central business district. The shops encompass nearly 40 luxury and entertainment retailers, while the residential portion of the development includes 455 luxury units. The two-towered development were a joint venture between Schnitzer West and Investcorp.
Atlanta, Ga.-based Invesco manages more than $1.2 billion in assets in more than 25 countries around the world, and the firm has made buys of all sizes throughout the Puget Sound. In June of 2018, the company paid $268.4 million to acquire the 592,000 square foot Redmond Town Center—also occupied by Microsoft. Invesco paid about $453 per square foot for the property and acquired the asset from Shorenstein Properties. In November, Invesco sold the Willowcrest Apartments in Seattle for $18.8 million or about $251,000 per unit.
Over the past week alone, billions in commercial property transactions have closed, making it an extremely hot fourth quarter in the Puget Sound. Hines sold Renton’s Triton Tower office complex for $63 million, while Par 5 Investments spent $61.9 million to acquire to Class A office buildings in Redmond. The sales of The Summit and F5 Tower were expansive, although public documents relating to the individual sale price of each property are not yet available. What is clear, however, is that Puget Sound shows few signs of slowing down in the near future.
