We saw plenty of activity in 2011 in both office leasing and the sale of office buildings in the Greater Seattle area, particularly in the Downtown core markets of Seattle and Bellevue. Amazon alone has leased 460,000 square feet at 1918 8th Ave.; 281,000 square feet at West 8th Avenue; and 106,000 square feet at the 1260 Mercer Building. KPMG has also leased 50,000 square feet at 1918 8th Ave. Other notable leases include Boeing’s 45,000 square feet at the Russell Investments Center; Allrecipes.com’s expansion to more than 55,000 square feet at the 5th & Pine Building; Facebook occupying 27,000 square feet at Met Park; Getty Images agreeing to nearly 60,000 square feet at 605 Union Station; and Brooks Sports inking a pre-lease agreement for 80,000 square feet for a yet-to-be-built office in the north Lake Union submarket. There have also been some major sales in the Greater Seattle market. These include the sale of 1918 8th Ave. and 818 Stewart by Schnitzer West to JPMorgan; Westlake Center Office Tower to TIAA by GGP; 505 1st Ave. and 83 King to Spear Street by Starbucks; Seattle Tower by LaeRoc Partners to the Teachers Retirement System of Illinois. As of December …
Western
FORT COLLINS, COLO. — Liberty Common School, Fort Collins’ largest charter school, has purchased a 27,000-square-foot building at 2745 Minnesota Drive. The building had previously been leased to Liberty Common High School. This purchase will allow the school to expand to about 60,000 square feet over two phases. The extra space would also allow the school to expand from 300 students to 450 students. Phase I of the expansion will begin in early 2012. The school was represented by Peter Kast of Realtec. The seller, McWhinney, was represented in-house by Ron Kuehl.
LAS VEGAS — RevZilla Motorsports has signed a lease for an undisclosed amount of space at the Warm Springs Crossing in Las Vegas. This is RevZilla’s first Western U.S. location. The online motorsports equipment company was represented by Bret Davis and Dean Kaufman of Jones Lang LaSalle. The landlord, KTR Capital Partners, was represented by Gabe Telles of CB Richard Ellis.
WESTMINSTER, COLO. — The Westminster Economic Development Authority (WEDA) has agreed to buy a 7.9-acre site at the former Westminster Mall that is currently occupied by Sears for $4.2 million. Sears will occupy the property until the end of June. The building will then be demolished to make way for the development of a 105-acre site. WEDA acquired the majority of this site back in May with the intention of turning it into an urban center.
PHOENIX – About 98,000 square feet of general industrial space at 1025 and 1033 N. 71st Ave. in Phoenix has sold to Alliance Commercial Partners, LLC for $2.6 million. The property was built in 2007. The 1025 property was vacant and in shell condition. The 1033 building had about 1,400 square feet of spec office space that was built out at the time of sale. Paul Boyle and Rick Danis with Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial’s Capital Markets Group and Steve Mardian with the firm’s Industrial Group represented both the buyer and the seller, WE Uterque Holding Corp., a company formed by JP Morgan Chase Bank.
PHOENIX — North Park Plaza, a 101,361-square-foot neighborhood shopping center in Phoenix, has sold to an entity formed by Westwood Financial Corporation for $13 million. The center was built in 1963 and is anchored by Safeway. The center underwent improvements in 1986 and 2007. Ryan Schubert and Michael Hackett with Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial’s Retail Capital Markets Group and Bob Buckley with the firm’s Capital Markets Group represented both the buyer and the seller, Aegon USA Realty Advisors.
CLAREMONT, CALIF. — The Claremont Business Park was sold to a private investor for $8,775,000. The business park was built in 1988. It is composed of five single-tenant buildings and one multi-tenant building for a total of 69,428 square feet. It is fully leased. Lee A. McCullough of Colliers’ Irvine, Calif., office represented the buyer. Bob Griffith and Steven Ward of Grubb & Ellis represented the seller, Claremont Business Park LLC.
SYLMAR, CALIF. — Corner Records Management, LLC has signed a five-year lease for 80,480 square feet of industrial space at the Valley Gateway Business Park in Sylmar. The space features 7,000 square feet of office space. Ray Howden of Cushman & Wakefield represented Corner Records. Chris Sullivan of DAUM’s San Fernando Valley office represented thelandlord, World Oil Corp, in this transaction.
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. — A 34,768-square-foot industrial building in Scottsdale has sold to a Phoenix-based partnership for $3 million. It was developed in 1999 as a build-to-suit facility for The Arizona Republic, however, the building has been vacant for more than two years. Rick Foss of NAI Horizon represented the Phoenix partnership. Kyle Westfall and Pat Harlan of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Gray Road Properties, LLC, in this transaction.
DENVER – A 30-unit apartment building located at 1225 Colorado Blvd. in Denver has sold to an unnamed buyer for $2,125,000. Kyle Malnati of Madison Commercial Properties represented the buyer. The seller was represented by John Laratta of Hendricks & Partners.