City Puts Arctic, Alaska Buildings Up for Sale

SEATTLE-The City of Seattle is unloading two aging Downtown office buildings on it is vacating in favor of Key Tower, its more modern Downtown office building. An offering memorandum will be out Monday, according to Seattle-based Meriwether Partners LLC, which has the disposition assignment. The asking price is $10.6 million for the pair. Offers are due July 6, with a final decision due in early August.Built in 1904, the 96,000-sf Arctic Building at 700 Third Ave. is on the National Historic Register. Its defining features include a row of terra cotta walrus heads and a rococo-gilt Dome Room. The asking price for the 10-story structure is $4 million ($41.66 per sf). The 15-story, 140,000-sf Alaska Building at 618 Second Ave. was the city’s first steel-frame skyscraper when it was completed in 1914. The asking price is $6.5 million ($46.42 per sf). The ground floors of both buildings are leased to private-sector retail tenants with the upper floors less and less occupied by the city of Seattle, which is why the asking price reflects the redevelopment opportunity more so than an income-producing investment. “The buildings have rich histories, unique architectural features, and floor plans that can be redeveloped into many uses, including hotel, office, residential or retail,” says Meriwether principal Robert Briscoe. “Given the availability of various tax credits for historic buildings, we expect investors will come up with interesting alternatives to redevelop the assets and create a lot of value.”Joan Rosenstock, the city’s senior planner and project manager overseeing the disposition, says the city might be interested in leasing back a portion of the Alaska building for a period of time, but not the Arctic Building. “The Arctic Building is almost empty at this point and we will be moving out of some of the Alaska Building in January,” she says. “We could renew some of our leases there (in the Alaska Building).”Rosenstock says the asking price for the properties was based on an appraisal, current market conditions, the current condition of the buildings and the existing debt o the property. “Basically we just want to pay off the debt,” she says.