By Jack Stubbs
In late February, an office building in Seattle’s Yesler Terrace neighborhood—east of the historic Pioneer Square neighborhood and southeast of the city’s downtown core—sold for $11.5 million, or approximately $390 per square foot, King County records show.
The buyer was Casa Ballena LLC, an entity based in Seattle, and the seller was Kobe Park LLC, an entity affiliated with Chelsea Carrigan based in Issaquah. The transaction for the property, which the seller acquired for $3.1 million in 2005, was recorded on March 4th.
The recent transaction included two separate parcels, according to public documents. The first property includes a three-story office building—originally built in 1909 and sitting on just under half an acre—that totals 29,454 square feet. The other parcel includes a parking lot sitting on 2,800 square feet of land.
It is not entirely clear how much space is currently available in the office building. According to Google Maps, one of the property’s current tenants is ABC Legal Services.
A national historic landmark, within the building is the Nippon Kan Theater, which was a major center of the Japanese American community before World War Two.
Sitting adjacent to Kobe Terrace, the property is roughly one mile from the downtown core, along with various central attractions including Pike Place Market, the Washington State Convention Center and the waterfront, which is undergoing major changes.
In early January 2019, Mayor Jenny Durkan announced her plans to round out the funding needed to create a new “Waterfront for All” in the city, as part of a project that will include 20 acres of public spaces and an elevated pathway connecting Pike Place Market to the waterfront. The project, estimated to cost around $711 million, comes following the permanent closure and demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which occurred in mid-January.
Seattle’s Yesler Terrace neighborhood has undergone significant transformations over the last few months, as developers and property owners alike look to take advantage of the city’s expanding downtown core, with several noteworthy projects in the works.
As one example, in October 2018, Vulcan Real Estate and Encore Architects’s 272-unit apartment building—located at 1000 East Yesler Way—was asked to return for a second Design Review Recommendation meeting for the project.
