Owners 'Making Deals That Produce Rents'

SEATTLE, WA-”I’d never seen such a big swing so quick,” says Al Clise, CEO of Seattle-based developer and property owner Clise Properties. While he has a number of real estate “cycles” under his belt, Clise is amazed at the boom-to-bust transformation of Seattle’s office market in just over a year.

Only 15 months ago, developers were scurrying to put up new towers to feed the frenzied demand. Vacancies were between 1% and 2%, rents were rapidly escalating, and new leases were being measured in the tens of thousands of square feet. Now, Clise says, developers and owners are “hunkered down and hoping they’re not too leveraged.”

Today’s strategy for landlords, according to Clise, is a mix of efficiency and working hard to get vacant spaces filled. “That means making deals that produce rents — even if they’re not the best deals,” he says. “It’s better to have something than empty space.”