By Jack Stubbs
The Denny Triangle neighborhood of Seattle has seen no shortage of transaction and development activity in recent months. And a recent sale of five parcels — located adjacent to the site of a planned two-tower, 40-story development — indicates that the area continues to evolve.
On August 7th, in a transaction that was recently recorded, the properties located at 1901-1933 Minor Ave. sold for $72 million, King County records show. The buyer was 1901 Minor Seattle Limited Partnership, an entity based in Seattle. The seller of the property was New York-based Crescent Heights, a national urban real estate firm that specializes in the development, ownership and operation of mixed-use high-rises in major cities across the U.S.
Ross Klinger and Tim Foster of Kidder Mathews represented the buyer. The seller did not respond to emailed requests for comment about the transaction in time for the publishing of this story.
The parcels span the length of a city block and include a .3-acre parcel currently developed with a 3,788 square foot commercial building originally constructed in 1951 and home to the City of Seattle’s Police communication garage, according to public documents.
According to a project proposal submitted by Crescent Heights to the city of Seattle’s Downtown Design Review Board in August 2016, the 1901 Minor Ave. is slated for the development of two 40-story towers — to be designed by San Francisco-based architecture firm Gensler — that will include 737 apartment units, 9,100 square feet of ground floor retail and 479 below-grade parking stalls.
According to the project team’s submitted proposal, the site has a unique blend of historical uses including agrarian, civic, industrial, retail and residential, and also serves as a node connecting different areas within the city’s downtown core. “At different points in its history, the site has been home to a fire station, a logging mill, small dwellings and an industrial dye works. It is clearly a place of craft…that has much to offer the community of Seattle’s new ‘working class,’ the proposal states. “With its prominent location straddling three distinct urban neighborhoods [of] South lake Union, Downtown and Capitol Hill, the site serves as a fixed connection between neighborhood-scale functions and city-scale functions.”
For over three decades and across multiple geographic markets, Crescent Heights has successfully completed land entitlements, built new construction projects, and created value-add strategies for existing developments, with a focus on identifying emerging real estate markets and predicting shifts in lifestyle and design trends, according to the company’s web site.
The company’s portfolio spans a wide range of product types including micro-units, signature residents, and extensive indoor and outdoor amenity packages reaching up to 75,000 square feet. Crescent Heights looks to create market-leading mixed-use projects that establish relationships with complementary retail, hospitality, food and beverage brands. The company has developed mixed-up projects in communities like Miami’s South Beach, New York’s Financial District, San Francisco’s SoMa Neighborhood, and Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square neighborhood.
Elsewhere in Seattle, Crescent Heights is also the developer for 4th & Columbia, a planned 100-story, 1,018-unit transit-oriented community located at 701 4th Ave. that—if completed—will look to compliment its location in the heart of the Emerald City.
“Located in the heart of Seattle’s Financial District on Fourth Avenue between Columbia and Cherry Streets, 4th & Columbia is a sustainably-designed, transit-oriented vertical village that represents a transformative opportunity to respectfully complement the downtown Seattle skyline,” the developer’s web site states. “Preserving and paying homage to the civic character of the surrounding buildings, 4th & Columbia will transform a couple of parking lots in a 9-to-5 business district into a vibrant 24/7 community.”
CORRECTION: This article previously only referenced the sale of one of five parcels. The price was not incorrect, but the article did not capture the entire sale.
