The Exchange Building was built 78 years ago at Second Avenueand Marion Street. The street address is 821 Second Ave. The majortenant is King County. Other tenants include publicly heldaQuantive Inc. and Varolii Corp.

The new owner is a joint venture of GE Asset Management andStamford, CT-based Ashforth Co., whose West Coast affiliateAshforth Pacific is based in Portland, OR, and owns severalproperties there. An Ashforth representative could not be reachedlate Tuesday for comment on what is believed to be the Ashforth'sfirst foray into the Seattle market.

Crescent Real Estate Equities owns 70 office buildings totaling27 million sf. Company vice chairman John Goff says the sale ispart of an effort to streamline the company's portfolio, which alsoincludes hotels and resort residential developments. The company isin the process of selling its hotelportfolio, which is spread across three states and totals1,854 rooms.