The property is located at 1737 NW 56th St., about 200 yards away from the future Ballard station of the Seattle Monorail. Rents in the building average $1.39 per sf and the average unit size is 610 sf. The five-story building includes groundfloor commercial space and underground parking. The seller was a local couple. The new owner is a local family trust. Jim Claeys of CB Richard Ellis represented both parties in the transaction.

Claeys tells GlobeSt.com the seller developed the building in 1995 after acquiring and demolishing two single family homes. The cost of construction was about $1.4 million. The asking price for the property was $5.1 million. The cap rate at that price was 6%, based on 2003 NOI. The negotiated sale price raises the cap rate to 6.2%.

One of the challenges in negotiating the sale price was factoring in the lease income from three cell phone towers located atop the building, says Claeys. "Everybody involved gave them a different value," he says. At issue was the fact that, regardless of the likeliness of renewal, which Claeys believes is high, each of the triple-net leases can be terminated by the lessee on 30 days notice.