Selling a Building of Size, Seattle’s 101 Stewart, is Rare
First & Stewart represents a creative office jewel box with its cascading views of the Puget Sound, highly desirable location adjacent to Pike’s Place Market and proximity to the Seattle waterfront.
SEATTLE—101 Stewart St. has sold to DWS, formerly known as RREEF, at price of approximately $53 million, GlobeSt.com learns. Known as First & Stewart, the 94,333-square-foot class-A building is located near the epicenter of Seattle’s central business district.
Newmark Knight Frank co-head of US capital markets Kevin Shannon, vice chairman Nick Kucha, senior managing director Michael Moll and director James Childress represented the seller, L&B Realty Advisors of Dallas. Also advising on the deal were NKF executive managing directors Jesse Ottele and Tim O’Keefe. NKF represented L&B Realty Advisors through all stages of the marketing, due diligence and sales process. The buyer was self-represented.
“Selling a building of this size and quality is rare in downtown Seattle today,” said Kucha. “We received interest from several domestic investors, but were delighted to work with DWS on behalf of L&B Realty Advisors.”
First & Stewart is located at the convergence of the Pike Place Market, Belltown, the retail core and the central business district.
“First & Stewart represents a ‘creative office jewel box.’ With its permanent and cascading views of the Puget Sound, its highly desirable location adjacent to Pike’s Place Market, proximity to Seattle’s waterfront transformation and topped off with L&B’s significant property modernizations, the opportunity was truly one-of-a-kind,” said Childress.
As the original Seattle location for Silicon Valley immigrant tech companies such as Facebook, Snapchat and DOXO, First & Stewart has been a vital part of the tech talent migration to Seattle.
“This well-located multi-tenant urban office asset received strong interest from a wide range of buyers,” Kucha tells GlobeSt.com. “Given the asset’s irreplaceable Waterfront and Pike Place Market location, 94% historical occupancy and stable in-place cash flow, the bidding environment was competitive.”
Sales activity was steady during the third quarter, with 106 office transactions for a total investment amount of $1.16 billion, according to a Kidder Mathews office report. The average unit transaction sale price was $348 per square foot with a corresponding average cap rate of 6%. Although the Eastside had the majority of major office sales this quarter with five, the most significant transactions occurred in Seattle, says Kidder.