Renton’s Southport, the 727,000 square foot office complex developed by SECO Development located on the southern shores of Lake Washington, has found another tenant to occupy its modern office space. Hasbro’s gaming subsidiary Wizards of the Coast will be taking 110,000 square feet confirmed SECO CEO Michael Christ to The Registry. This marks the development’s second lease this year following an announcement by The Partners Group in February of 2022 that they will take 20,000 square feet in the property. Some industry reports stated that blockchain startup Peer will be taking space in the complex, as well, but this company has not signed any deal with SECO and is not a tenant in the property, according to Christ.
The latest lease presents positive momentum for the property, which has struggled over the years to attract tenants despite its advanced and innovative technology and layout, operable windows and expansive floor plates.
Wizards of the Coast is a publisher of games primarily in the fantasy and science fiction realm. The company originated as a role-playing game publisher, and it counts Dungeons & Dragons and the Pokemon Trading Card Game as two of its most notable titles. Over the years, the company also owned and operated The Game Keeper chain of retail stores, which were shuttered by 2004. In September of 1999, Hasbro purchased Wizards of the Coast for $325 million.
SECO has held a positive long-term outlook for this location and believes that interest in the property will only increase over time. The initial 17.1 acres the property developer purchased were expanded to 30 acres in December of 2019 when SECO added two parcels to the property: a 7.74-acre parcel immediately adjacent to Southport, formerly owned by Puget Sound Energy, and a 5.1-acre parcel just south of The Landing and across from the planned Top Golf development, in Renton. Both were purchased for $23.5 million.
SECO completed the first phase of Southport, a 2.4 million square foot mixed-use development with Class A office, retail, luxury residential and the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington over the last few years. Michael Christ, SECO Development’s owner and CEO, originally targeted the area in the late 1990’s for its waterfront location, quintessential views and significant transportation infrastructure, according to a statement by the company. However, since that time, Christ has come to see Southport as Puget Sound’s next technology hub for cloud computing during the coming decade. “Southport’s new 12.84 acres are a blank slate for tech companies to scale intentionally and responsibly to meet the ever-expanding needs of their workforce,” he said.
