Landmark Rainier Brewery Back on the Market

SEATTLE-The landmark Rainier Brewery building is back on the market after just a few years. The 200,000-sf, industrial building looms over Interstate 5 just south of Downtown Seattle, a giant neon “T” and the smell of roasting coffee beans having long-since replaced the aromatic hops and the giant “R”.

Under Kent Central LLC, Benaroya acquired the building and adjacent bottling and distribution space from Stroh’s Brewing Co. for a reported $19 million. Benaroya envisioned a technology campus on the properties, says Rick Osterhout of Insignia Kidder Mathews, who represented Stroh’s in its sale of the property and now will do the same for Benaroya.

Osterhout tells GlobeSt.com that those plans fell by the wayside when Sound Transit, using the threat of condemnation, forced Benaroya last May to sell the 11-acre bottling and distribution property for $24.3 million, leaving the sprawling 209,000-sf building on 4.56 acres but not enough for a tech campus. As a result, says Osterhout, “the asset no longer fits into Benaroya’s portfolio.”