By Meghan Hall
Brookfield is continuing its prolific investment into Bellevue’s Spring District. In a deal that closed yesterday, June 10th, Brookfield Properties added another commercial asset to its portfolio, paying $85 million, or about $850 per square foot, for the GIX Building. According to public records, the seller was the project’s developer, Wright Runstad & Company.
The property is located at 12280 NE District Way. The asset is also known as the Steve Ballmer Building, named after former Microsoft’s former CEO.
The property totals about 100,000 square feet and features a mix of design studios, incubation space, electronics prototyping labs and presentation spaces.The building is home to a number of graduate degree programs, professional programs and innovative tenants. Currently, Hyperproof, a continuous compliance Saas company, as well as Educative, a software firm, and Resolute, an engineering firm, all occupy the building.
The deal for the GIX Building is one of several that Brookfield and Wright Runstad have struck in recent months for various Spring District properties. Most recently, the newly-delivered Block 24 was sold by Wright Runstad, Shorenstein Properties and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management to Brookfield for $200 million, or about $1,010 per square foot. Block 24 totals 197,959 square feet
That deal followed another transaction in which Brookfield purchased Block 16, which totals 311,233 square feet. The purchase of Block 16 closed in October of 2020 for $365 million, or about $1,062 per square foot. Both Block 24 and Block 16 are 100 percent leased to Facebook.
Upon its completion, the Spring District– which is co-developed by Wright Runstad and Shorenstein–is expected to have more than three million square feet of high-tech, flexible office space, three modern apartment communities, open park space, and retail. Other commercial spaces include a brewpub and a market hall, and future development includes Block 5, Block 13 and Phase Three, the final and closing phase of the project, which will add office, residential, retail, hospitality and transit. While the Spring District has already become a hub, the developers state that the final phases will further solidify the Spring District’s place as a center for “innovative business.”
