By Jack Stubbs
Late last week on August 2nd, Los Angeles Preylock Real Estate Holdings, an owner and operator of commercial real estate along the West Coast, acquired the seven-building Class A Willow Creek Corporate Center in Redmond for $136 million, or approximately $322 per square foot, according to King County records. Preylock acquired the office campus from BRE WA Office Owner LLC, an entity affiliated with Equity Office Properties—which is a subsidiary of New York-based Blackstone Group—in a sale that was recorded on August 6th.
HFF represented the seller and procured the buyer in the transaction.
As part of a portfolio of 20 properties on the Eastside, Blackstone acquired the Willow Creek Corporate Center in July 2015 from Arden Realty for $208 million.
Blackstone declined to comment on the transaction and the buyer did not respond to requests for comment.
The sale is for the seven parcels comprising the Willow Creek Corporate Center in Redmond located at 10675, 10735, 10785, 10865, 10915, 10545 & 10525 Willows Road NE. The Willow Creek Corporate Center is a corporate campus totaling 421,785 square feet across 27 acres overlooking the Willow Run Golf Course, according to a property flyer written by Broderick Group. The office campus is occupied by a number of high-profile corporate companies and private businesses, according to the flyer.
According to Google Maps, some of the current tenants include software company GE Grid solutions, Northwest School of Innovative Learning, construction company Teknon Electric, and software company iLink Systems.
None of the representatives from the Broderick Group, who is the listing agent for the Willow Creek Corporate Center, responded to calls for comment.
The office campus is approximately 2.5 miles north of Downtown Redmond, four miles north of Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters and five miles south of Totem Lake. Additionally, the property is roughly four miles from access to I-405 and three miles from Washington State Route 520.
It is not yet clear what plans the buyer has for the property. In late 2017, however, Facebook was active along Willows Road. On December 28th, 2017, the company acquired two high tech/flex office buildings totaling 72,287 square feet—located at 10301 Willows Road NE, directly adjacent to the Willow Creek Corporate Center—from Redmond-based Crane Aerospace Inc. for $20 million. And Facebook has amassed nearly 700,000 square feet of office space across a number of properties around Redmond’s Willows Road, according to sources with direct knowledge of the company’s activities in the region.
Based in Los Angeles, Preylock Real Estate Holdings is an owner, operator and developer of commercial and residential real estate in major West Coast submarkets, according to the company’s web site. To date, Preylock’s portfolio consists of office assets in Southern California and Silicon Valley. The company has acquired assets totaling approximately 1 million square feet, investing roughly $400 million.
Founded in 1985, Blackstone Group’s portfolio spans asset types, including office, retail, hotel, industrial and residential properties. As of September 30 2017, the company had 220 million square feet of office space globally. And the company has been active in Seattle and the surrounding region over the last few months. In September 2017, the company acquired the 22-story Exchange Building in Downtown Seattle for $156 million, or roughly $407 per square foot, from Boston-based Beacon Capital Partners. In October 2017, the company acquired three apartment properties in Tukwila and Des Moines from MG Properties Group for a combined $79.5 million. Most recently, on February 28th, Blackstone Group sold the 43,800 square foot Canyon Park Office Center in Bellevue for $9 million, or approximately $205 per square foot, from JM2T Properties LLC.
