Jim Napolitano, major project manager for the King County's Facilities Management, tells GlobeSt.com the county has signed a two-year lease for around 47,000 on the Downtown office tower's 35th and 36th floors. The floors are master leased by Regus, a publicly-traded provider of furnished office space and related business services.
The full-service annual lease rate on the Regus deal starts at $22 per sf and ramps up to $24 over the life of the lease, says Napolitano. "We sort of lucky the economy went in the toilet," Napolitano tell GlobeSt.com, explaining that before the economy tanked it was hard to find significant contiguous space and lease rates were in the $30s.
Napolitano also confirmed for GlobeSt.com that the county is negotiating directly with building owner Equity Office Properties for another 20,000 sf on the 32nd floor of the building, which is located one block from the County Courthouse complex. A similar lease rate is expected.
The 32nd floor will house the budget office and county executive staff, says Napolitano, while the 35th and 36th floors will house the prosecuting attorney's office, judges and law enforcement personnel.
Regus provides companies with turnkey office space product featuring a mix of workstations and meeting rooms. Regus' nationwide network of centers also provide administrative support personnel, but that service is not being utilized by the county. Earlier this year, the company restructured leases with landlords nationwide in order to avoid filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Stephen Rothrock of Colliers International in Seattle represents Regus on a national basis. King County was represented by Garth Olsen of Cushman & Wakefield and Amy Bolich of Craig Kinzer & Co.
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