Schnitzer West Purchases Prime Property in Downtown Bellevue

BELLVUE, WA-Schnitzer West is reinvesting proceeds from the recent sale of its North Creek properties to purchase a site in the Bellevue central business district, where it plans to build a premier, 16-story class A office building.

The parcel is at the corner of 106th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Fourth Street. Schnitzer plans to develop a 360,000-square foot office building that will include street-level retail and a Bank of America branch. The new office tower is slated for completion in 2016.

Driven by the region's thriving technology industry, Bellevue has grown into a booming business center, and as a result its commercial real estate market has become increasingly constrained. As demand increases, businesses that want a unique environment and amenities not found in traditional office buildings are struggling to find spaces that fulfill their needs.

"Before we embark on a development project we conduct extensive market research," said Schnitzer West senior investment director Pam Hirsch. "We spend time listening to tenants to fully understand their evolving needs. We then design our real estate around their feedback. Both our research and the vacancy rate clearly demonstrate that companies want to be in Bellevue. Given this, we are focused on providing those companies with an exceptional offering in Bellevue beyond the commoditized alternatives."

Schnitzer West's new office tower will offer a host of functional common areas that effectively extend the use of a tenant's leased space, including a spacious state-of-the-art conference and training center, on-site concierge, a comprehensive fitness center with fully appointed locker rooms, and an indoor/outdoor great room designed to optimize collaboration, efficiency and productivity.

"Leading companies are increasingly viewing office space as a competitive advantage for their business, one that reinforces their brand and helps them to attract and retain their most valuable resource, their employees,” said Schnitzer West investment director Pete Aparico.

The acquisition of this site launches the investment company's third major project in Bellevue, where it has developed more than two million square feet of commercial space in the city. Schnitzer West's previous projects in Bellevue include Civica Office Commons, completed in 2001; Advanta Office Commons, completed in 2007; and The Bravern, completed in 2009.

"We love Bellevue," Hirsch said. "We have consistently invested in this market since 1997 and are very excited to continue this momentum with another successful project. Our experience tells us the market is ripe for reinvestment and further development."

The listing team for Schnitzer West's Bellevue office project includes Dwight Newell of CBRE and Mark Flippo and Daniel Seger of Jones Lang LaSalle. In addition to the Bellevue project, Schnitzer West is working on three other development projects in the Puget Sound region. All of these projects are slated to break ground in 2014.

Schnitzer West LLC is one of the West Coast's fastest growing real estate investment, development and property management companies. Founded in 1997, the company has developed or acquired and repositioned 8 million square feet of commercial real estate in the Seattle, Portland and Denver markets.