By Meghan Hall
Att the end of last week, another office property traded hands, this time in Bellevue. Public records show that an entity affiliated with Pendulum Properties LLC purchased the Twilight Office Center for $18.8 million, or about $537 per square foot. The seller is a limited liability company associated with Pine Forest Properties.
The Class B asset is located at 2600 116th Ave. NE. Data from CommercialCafe indicates that the multi-tenant asset was first built in 2001 and totals about 35,000 square feet. The building itself sits on 2.22 acres. The property was originally developed by Pine Forest in 2001.
The asset is located north of downtown Bellevue, just off of state Route 520 and Interstate 5. The Little School, Overlake Specialty School and Olive Crest are adjacent to the site. Much of the extended surrounding neighborhood is more residential in nature.
The property’s seller, Pine Forest Properties, develops, acquires, manages and leases both office and multifamily buildings, primarily in the Pacific Northwest. Its other office properties include theWest Willows Technology Center, a 160,000 square foot office and R&D building home to tenants such as PlayNetwork and Facebook, and Twelfth Business Park, which totals 130,000 square feet and is located in Bellevue. Pine Forest is currently planning a 1 million square foot project for the asset, according to its website.
The Puget Sound’s office market continues to move along, even as challenges to the sector remain. According to a third quarter report released by JLL, a large number of deliveries during the third quarter was a “large” contributor to an increase in vacancy, even though about 80 percent of these developments are pre-leased. The Eastside seems to be somewhat insulated from this trend, however, as of the 13 projects underway on the Eastside, 10 are already 85 percent leased.
In suburban Bellevue, for example, direct vacancy sits at about 20 percent. JLL points out that while still high, leasing activity increased for the third consecutive quarter and exceeded one million square feet in volume, thanks to tech tenants and contract renewals.
On the transaction side, momentum is also building. In September, Bellevue’s Lincoln Plaza traded for $84.1 million to Rockwood Capital. Also in September, American Assets Trust purchased Corporate Campus East III, a four tenant building for $83.85 million, or about $522 per square foot. Investment into the Eastside will also help to push the local office market along, hopefully bringing more traction heading into 2022.
