Starwood Capital Group, a private investment firm with over $55 billion in assets under management took two additional floors in Seattle’s iconic Macy’s building located at 300 Pine Street for $50 million, according to public records filed with King County. In this latest purchase, Starwood acquired floors 3 and 4 along with about 20,000 square feet of space in the subterranean part of the building from Macy’s West Stores, Inc. Starwood had purchased floors 5 through 8 in October of 2015 for $65 million, or roughly $216 per square foot. The floors are around 80,000 square feet, so with the basement space, the per square foot purchase made this week would come close to $277.
Floors 5 through 8 with more than 300,000 square feet of the space represent the largest contiguous block of office space and largest floor plates available for lease in downtown Seattle. There are only two other buildings slotted for 2019 delivery that plan to offer more space. Those are Kilroy’s Realty’s 333 Dexter project, which plans to deliver 575,000 square feet, and Skanska’s 2&U, which is planning to add 565,807 square feet of space, according to a report from Kidder Mathews.
The building, 300 Pine Street, is located at the corner of Pine Street and Third Avenue first opened in 1929 as The Bon Marche department store. The property sits atop the Westlake Metro transit station and is adjacent to the Third Avenue bus lines and South Lake Union Transit—offering office tenants unparalleled access to Seattle’s most centralized and utilized public transportation hubs.
Starwood plans for the remodel included adding a new office lobby, dedicated office elevators and a massive rooftop deck. The company also planned to significantly enhance the energy efficiency and perform a seismic upgrade of the building.
“We are thrilled to be able to invest in a landmark, one-of-a-kind property affiliated with such an iconic brand as Macy’s,” said Sam Caven, vice president at Starwood Capital Group in 2015 when the company made the initial purchase.
“In such a highly competitive employment market, companies often rely heavily on their office space as both a recruitment tool and as a source of identity. We believe that this asset offers exactly the kind of highly amenitized, lifestyle-oriented office that is in very limited supply and high demand in Seattle today,” added Mark Deason, senior vice president at Starwood Capital Group.
