Global groups snap up 3 Seattle-area trophies for more than $1.7B

Invesco and KKR are the new owners of three large commercial real estate properties leased by Amazon, F5 Networks and Microsoft.

New York-based KKR on Monday said it paid over $1.2 billion for the Summit campus in Bellevue and F5 Tower in Seattle. Public records show Atlanta- headquartered Invesco paid just over $585 million for the Bravern Office Commons in Bellevue.

The KKR deal was the second $1.2 billion Seattle-area acquisition this year. In June, Blackstone subsidiary EQ Office bought US Bank Centre and 999 Third for that much money.

The latest deals encapsulate how big tech drives the Puget Sound-area economy, with Microsoft the tenant in the Bravern and F5 Networks filling the office space in F5 Tower. Amazon has leased space in a Summit building.

These are the latest big area sales as owners across Washington unload assets ahead of the Jan. 1 increase in the state real estate sales excise tax.

In the last two weeks, 19 large assets — including large development sites, existing office buildings and a big new distribution center — have sold for over $3.4 billion. In all of 2018, the 25 largest sales in King County totaled nearly $4.4 billion, according to Business Journal research.

KKR bought Summit, a three-building 915,000-square-foot asset, from Houston-based Hines. It’s 99 percent leased, according to KKR. The third building, which Amazon leased, is under construction and scheduled to be completed in the third quarter.

The 44-story F5 Tower includes 516,000 square feet of fully leased office space, which KKR bought.

KKR has hired Urban Renaissance Group to operate F5 Tower and the Summit. URG is a Seattle-based real estate investor, developer and manager of real estate, and assisted with the acquisitions.

A KKR news release did not break down how much the company paid for the office condo at F5 Tower and the Summit, but King County posted a deed that shows F5 Tower sold for $458 million. The county hasn’t recorded the Summit deed.

The portion of F5 Tower that includes a vacant 189-room hotel was not part of the deal with sellers, Daniels Real Estate of Seattle and Stockbridge Capital Group of San Francisco, which developed the project.

Seoul-based company luxury hotel chain Lotte is homing in on a deal to buy the hotel. Los Angeles-based SBE Entertainment Group planned an SLS hotel in the space but the deal was called off two years ago just ahead of the opening.

The two Bravern towers total 750,000 square feet. Invesco bought the property from Des Moines, Iowa-based Principal Real Estate Investors, which bought the asset nine years ago for $410 million.

Newmark Knight Frank’s Capital Markets team listed the Bravern for sale, and Eastdil Secured marketed the Summit property for sale.

Image courtesy of ANTHONY BOLANTE | PSBJ

Puget Sound Business Journal – Marc Stiles, Staff Writer

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Eric Richards