Fairfield Residential LLC purchased four parcels totaling 1.7-acres, in downtown Redmond near Microsoft’s headquarters, for $6.2 million, according to public records. The San Diego-based developer plans to build a six-story 360-unit mixed-use multifamily community on the site called Bear Creek, and anticipates that it will be completed by early 2019, according to a press release issued by ARA, A Newmark Company in Seattle.
ARA Newmark Seattle-based Director Marty Leith and Associate Jerry Sankey negotiated the deal for Fairfield Residential’s latest Seattle purchase on behalf of Pacific Northwest Development, the owner, and PDSK Properties, who handled the assemblage and entitlement process. “Fairfield jumped at the chance to acquire and build out this site ahead of the upcoming growth in the area,” said Leith in a prepared statement. Neither buyer or seller was available for comment.
Bear Creek is expected to promote the acceleration of transforming downtown Redmond into a vibrant, urban center where mixed-used residential and commercial developments are available near the city’s high-tech hub that has been created by Microsoft and orbiting companies. According to the City of Redmond, the downtown community currently provides more than 10,000 jobs for its 6,000 residents.
Redmond’s city center is believed to be on track to double its population by 2030 once the additional public transit is available. Plans to extend Sound Transit 3’s Eastside Light Rail from Redmond Technology Center into downtown includes a proposed station within a few blocks of Bear Creek Parkway, according to ARA Newmark’s release.
In Redmond, nearly 900 apartments are set for completion in 2016, with another 191 units in 2017 and 1,513 in 2018, according to a report by Dupre + Scott Apartment Advisors. The average rental rate in the Eastside is $1,716, or $1.75 per square foot. There are 278 residential buildings that provide 41,656, of these only 3.5 percent are vacant, says the report.
