Perkins Coie Renews 269,000-SF Lease

SEATTLE-Perkins Coie has decided to stand pat, renewing its long-term commitment for 269,000 square feet at 1201 Third Avenue rather than accepting one the many invitations to relocate. Beacon Capital Partners co-owns the asset with local partner Wright Runstad, which also manages the building. The law firm has been in the building for two decades.

The 1.1-million-square-foot building was known until recently as Washington Mutual Tower. About 10% of its space is currently being marketed for lease, according to officespace.com. The negotiated lease terms were not disclosed but standard concessions these days include, lower rent, several months of free rent and, if the owner can afford it, a tenant improvement allowance as well.

“It was a very competitive market that we had to work in,” Wright Runstad president Greg Johnson told the Seattle Times. The lease will run into the 2020s, he said. Perkins’ local managing partner told the newspaper that its space will be renovated and reconfigured as part of the deal.

Lease rates have dropped and vacancy rates have climbed, and would have done so even without several new speculative office buildings coming online and Washington Mutual going under, albeit not quite as sharply.

Kip Spencer, co-founder of officespace.com, told the newspaper he was not surprised by the renewal. “The landlord would not want to lose a marquee tenant like that in this market,” he said. “Rest assured they did everything they could to keep them.”