Dexter Horton Building Trades for $81M

SEATTLE-An historic 315,000-sf Downtown office building here has changed hands for $81 million. The new owner is LaSalle Investment Management with equity from Prudential UK. The seller was a partnership of The Carlyle Group and local investor John Goodman. The building was approximately 92% occupied at the time of sale, which closed earlier this week.

Built in 1924 at 710 Second Ave., the property is the known as the Dexter-Horton Building. The City of Seattle acquired the building, which it occupied, in 1988 for $20 million. The city sold it to the Carlyle-Goodman joint venture in mid 2000 for $46 million with plans for a six-year phased move-out that will be completed later this year, Goodman Real Estate president George Petrie tells GlobeSt.com.

Published reports this week vary widely on how much the Carlyle-Goodman invested in the building beyond its purchase price. The figures ranged from $12 million to $34 million. The latter number would mean the building didn’t appreciate in value over the last six years, which is unlikely. The $12-million figure is also unlikely because the building required substantial repairs after the Nisqually earthquake in February 2001.