By Jack Stubbs
Minneapolis, Minn.-based Onward Investors recently added a property to its growing investment presence in the Pacific Northwest, acquiring a three-building industrial/flex office property in Renton—where an heightened demand for housing, a growing technology and business sector and expanding industrial market make the city on the edge of Lake Washington an increasingly appealing investment opportunity for local- and out-of-town investors alike.
On October 1st, the three-building South Lind Square Office Park sold for $17 million, or around $150 per square foot, King County records show. The seller of the property was South Lind Square LLC, an entity affiliated with Shephard McIlwee Tinglof based in Los Angeles, CA.
The South Lind Square Office Park, located at 4150 Lind Ave. SW and 425 SW 41st St., is comprised of three industrial/flex office buildings built between 1987 and 1988 which total around 113,400 square feet, according to public documents. Buildings A and B total just over 29,000 square feet each, while Building C comprises 55,400 square feet.
According to the property listing on officespace.com, there were between 4,000 and 40,000 square feet available for lease as of mid-August 2019. According to Google Maps, some of the current tenants at South Lind Square include Honeywell, Newton Labs, Leonard W. Moen & Associates, and Cole & Associates Training-Consulting.
The office park is approximately four miles south of downtown Renton, also offering convenient access to State Route 167. The complex is also roughly seven miles east of Sea-Tac Airport via Interstate-405.
Since the company’s inception in 2011, Onward Investors has invested in nearly 5 million square feet of commercial real estate throughout the U.S., according to the company’s web site. Some of the company’s other since-completed Pacific Northwest investment opportunities have included The Commencement, a 60-unit luxury condo project in the Tacoma suburb of Ruston, and Wellington Hills Business Campus, a two-building industrial development in Woodinville.
Onward also partnered with Auburn, Wash.-based Latitude Development Co. to develop and build a 928-unit, $12.5 million self-storage facility in Federal Way, which was slated for completion in May 2019.
According to The Registry’s reporting, Onward Investors’ last activity in the Puget Sound region occurred in January 2019, when the company completed the sale of the 96,000 square foot Building A at Sammamish Park Place—part of the larger, two-building, 202,544 square foot office complex in Issaquah—for $29 million to Los Angeles-based Rich Uncles LLC.
In April 2019, another industrial property in Renton traded hands, when New York-based Clarion Partners acquired a three-building distribution warehouse—located at 3324 Lind Ave. SW., roughly half a mile north of the South Lind Square Office Park—for $15 million, or about $149 per square foot.
