Three Renton Place Under Renovation

RENTON, WA-Renovations are under way at Three Renton Place, one of the three identical seven-story, 130,000-sf office buildings along Interstate 405 here that comprise Renton Place. HAL Real Estate Investments owns the entire complex. Work on Three Renton Place will include renovating the main lobby and all elevator lobbies, new elevator cabs, new restrooms and new landscaping. HAL vice president Brad Lange tells GlobeSt.com that the building has been empty since 2003, when Multiple Zones moved its headquarters to Auburn after seven years in the building. Two Renton Place is fully leased to Boeing, which has vacated a tremendous amount of space in the market but last year renewed its lease at Two Renton Place through 2007. One Renton Place, which HAL renovated two years ago, is about 75% leased to multiple tenants, says Lange.In addition to the renovations being done because they are needed, Lange says it is also about keeping up with other available Renton properties, including Bedford Property Investors’ Times Square, a largely vacant 334,000-sf, five-building campus here that the Lafayette, CA-based REIT recently renovated after the Boeing Co. vacated the complex early last year. With renovated common areas and a new landscape design, Lange say he likes Three Renton’s chances against competitors, which are many given the city’s 40% vacancy rate. Among other things, Lange says the complex has great visibility from I-405 and wraps around a grocery- and drug-anchored community shopping center that includes a Starbucks coffee shop and a dry cleaners. The full-service asking lease rate for space in Three Renton is $20 per sf per year.”I think we have a great location within the Southend market and we will be very competitive with the other buildings in the market,” says Lange. “We’re the first major building you run into as you drive south on I-405 and we have signage rights.” HAL acquired Renton Place along with two other Renton properties in a 670,000-sf package deal from Seattle-based Unico Properties for about $83.2 million. The other two properties were Valley Office Park, a four-building, 200,000-sf complex, and Blackriver 800, a 75,000-sf building that was last occupied by Boeing and is currently vacant.