SEATTLE—The $133 million sale is now complete on an approximately 59,448-square-foot land assemblage of two of the most sought-after downtown blocks for future development. The sale price was based on the existing improvements as well as the land development market value.

Newmark Knight Frank's co-head of US capital markets Kevin Shannon, executive managing director Ken White and senior managing director Michael Moll, as well as local NKF market experts Tim O'Keefe, Paul Sleeth, Billy Sleeth, Jesse Ottele, Erika Koehler and Anne Marie Koehler represented the seller, Vance Corporation. The buyer, Kilroy Realty, was self-represented.

"This is a Main and Main core site that was acquired after an extremely competitive marketing process," Shannon tells GlobeSt.com. "In my opinion, it was the best development site on the market in the West Coast."

The site currently includes surface parking, a seven-story parking garage, an entire block bank branch and the vintage 10-story Lloyd Building.

"The site provides Kilroy Realty with the ability to execute a unique generational development opportunity that is capable of 2.52 million square feet of residential, office, hotel and retail space," said White. "This is an extremely rare opportunity to create a new urban center in one of the nation's top coastal downtown environments."

Located at 1825 7th Ave., 603 Stewart Ste. SE, 1818 6th Ave., and 500 and 600 Olive Way, the site is just blocks from the corporate headquarters of Amazon and Nordstrom, the iconic Pike Place Market and the expanding Washington State Convention Center. It is also adjacent to Seattle's retail core anchored by the newly renovated Pacific Place. The site is extremely well positioned within the retail core/Denny Triangle/South Lake Union submarkets with access to all aspects of public transportation. These areas have grown to become a premier destination for tech, biotech, education and creative firms that include Facebook, HBO, Zillow, Google, Redfin and Kaiser Permanente.

"This generational site is within a hotbed of investment and development activity with billions of dollars of capital infused over recent years," said O'Keefe. "This incredible location is ideally situated at the connection between South Lake Union and downtown Seattle, and is adjacent to one of the busiest light rail stations in the region."

The Puget Sound office market continued its relentless expansion in the third quarter of 2019, with asking rent and vacancy rates maintaining or surpassing recently established record levels, according to NKF's latest report. Average asking rents in the region increased by 1.7% on the quarter and by 7.5% year over year, up to $39.45 per square foot. The overall vacancy rate remained at 7.6%, the same as last quarter, but down 110 basis points compared with the third quarter of 2018. The region experienced 1.39 million square feet of net absorption in the third quarter, bringing the year-to-date total to 3.15 million square feet, the most of any market tracked by NKF research.

Instant Insights /

Brokers Say Seattle Land is Best Development Site on West Coast

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