“Seattle’s creative office market is flourishing, and shows no signs of slowing in the near future,” says Bram. “Vacancy rates have reached pre-recession lows, and tech giants such as Amazon and Facebook are expanding in the market. This activity fuels a deeper demand for creative office, and presents an opportunity for owners who are in a position to deliver creative space to the market.”
The design center, comprised of two buildings situated in the Georgetown submarket of Seattle, historically served as a well-known destination for high-end home furnishings and design services. The buildings are located at 5601 and 5701 Sixth Ave. Since acquiring the property in 2014, Greenbridge Investment Partners rebranded the buildings into:
Building 1: a 157k sf asset now called Seattle Design Center
Building 2: a 280k sf asset now called Georgetown Squared (G2)
Greenbridge acquired the two adjacent design center buildings for $24.9 mil at 43% overall occupancy, over the last two years. The firm renovated the Seattle Design Center building and consolidated the showroom/design tenants into that facility. Now, Greenbridge is ready to begin a major repositioning of the G2 building from showroom space into creative office.
The new loan closed at 59.7% loan-to-stabilized value at a competitive LIBOR spread for a 24-month term with one 12-month option. $49 mil was funded at closing, and an additional $24 mil will pay for renovation, construction, tenant improvements and leasing commissions at the G2 building.
Greenbridge’s G2 office building will offer a full creative environment with expansive 60k sf floorplates, exposed ceilings and concrete floors, glass walls for natural light, unobstructed views of downtown Seattle and Mt. Rainier, and full-service amenities, including an upscale fitness center and conference center.
