Safeco Plaza in downtown Seattle to sell for $465 million

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Seattle Times economic reporter

The 50-story office building in downtown Seattle, which some refer to as “the box the Space Needle came in,” is soon to be sold to a Boston-based developer for nearly half a billion dollars.

Boston Properties announced Tuesday that it plans to acquire the nearly 800,000-square-foot Safeco Plaza through a joint venture for approximately $ 465 million gross. King County has not yet registered the sale online.

Though remote working pandemic has fueled an existential debate about the future of downtown, Owen Thomas, CEO of Boston Properties, described Seattle on Tuesday as “one of the strongest office markets in the United States.” The company named employment growth in the technology and life science industries.

The Seattle office market was hit hard during the pandemic. With many employers still thinking about how they will require their employees to return to the cabins, these effects remain.

Office buildings across the region have seen vacancies rise and sales sluggish, according to commercial real estate company Kidder Mathews. According to the report, the demand for new office buildings in Seattle and on the East Side is continuing, especially from technology companies.

Another firm, CBRE, found office rents in downtown Seattle are rising. “Brokers are reporting higher asking rents and the flood of sublet space has likely peaked,” wrote CBRE.

Mayor Jenny Durkan, meanwhile, has been on an event tour to lure people downtown while some candidates struggled to replace their urge to focus more on neighborhoods outside of the city center.

Boston Properties describes itself as the largest publicly traded developer, owner and manager of Class A office properties in the country.

The company said the deal for Safeco Plaza will be closed with “one of the participants in its recently announced co-investment program.” Boston Properties plans to own up to 51% of the shares.

Safeco Plaza, built in 1969, includes retail stores on the ground floor and underground parking for 576 cars. According to HistoryLink, the tower was the tallest tower in Seattle from 1969 to 1985 when the Columbia Tower was built.

According to Boston Properties, Safeco Plaza is 90% let and is one of the largest tenants with an average term of 17 years.

The most recent selling price is $ 78 million more than when the building was last changed hands in 2016, when it was bought by Korean investors.