By Jack Stubbs
In a recently-recorded transaction, Seattle-based Unico Properties sold the 1505 Fifth Avenue mixed-use office building in Seattle to an affiliate of Goldman Sachs for $32.5 million, or approximately $370 per square foot, according to King County records.
The recent sale of the property occurred as part of several other portfolio transactions in Seattle and Denver—totaling $710 million—that have occurred over the past several days, including, most recently, the sale of Smith Tower and the Florence Building in Pioneer Square for a combined $138 million.
The 1505 Fifth Avenue Property, located at 1505 Fifth Ave. in the heart of Seattle’s Central Business District, is a six-story mixed-use property that totals 87,822 square feet, according to Unico Properties’ web site. Built in 1926, the Class B property was eventually converted to retail use for Nordstrom, at which point the windows on the lower floors were filled in.
According to public documents, the $32.5 million transaction included two separate properties: one was for the 1505 Fifth Ave. property and the other was for the retail portion of the old Nordstrom Building.
According to a statement released by Unico Properties, the sale of the various Seattle properties were part of a larger 27-building, 1.8 million square foot portfolio of assets located in Seattle and Denver. The portfolio of properties, which are collectively referred to as the Unico Partners I portfolio, is worth a combined $710 million, according to Unico’s statement.
Unico will retain a stake in the portfolio and will continue to operate and manage the buildings on behalf of the new partnership. The transaction signals the successful conclusion of Unico’s first institutional discretionary fund Unico Partners I, which closed in 2014 after raising $265 million in equity from U.S. and Canadian institutional investors, according to the company’s statement.
“Since 2014, Unico has repositioned these properties through targeted capital investment and major leasing. Several properties in the portfolio underwent significant transformation including several historic properties and the delivery of an award-winning new construction,” said Unico President Jonas Sylvester. “We’ve not only enhanced our properties and achieved strong returns for our investors, but also improved our cities’ built environments and enhanced the quality of life for our tenants and communities.”
Along with the recent sale of 1505 Fifth Ave., Smith Tower and the Florence Building, there have been several other transactions recorded over the last few days. Some of these properties included the 168,260 square foot Yale and Thomas property in South Lake Union; the historic Grand Central Building and the Buttnick Building in Pioneer Square; and the Butler Parking Garage.
Unico owns and manages nearly 17 million square feet of office, multi-family and mixed-use property across the western U.S., with more than a million square feet under development as well, according to the company’s web site. Some of the company’s other properties in Seattle include 1201 Pacific in Tacoma, which is a 25-story Class A office property; 1111 Third, a 565,883 square foot asset in the Seattle CBD; and 2323 Elliot in downtown Seattle, a 80,300 square foot Class B office property.
