The Exchange Building was built 78 years ago at Second Avenue and Marion Street. The street address is 821 Second Ave. The major tenant is King County. Other tenants include publicly held aQuantive Inc. and Varolii Corp.

The new owner is a joint venture of GE Asset Management and Stamford, CT-based Ashforth Co., whose West Coast affiliate Ashforth Pacific is based in Portland, OR, and owns several properties there. An Ashforth representative could not be reached late Tuesday for comment on what is believed to be the Ashforth's first foray into the Seattle market.

Crescent Real Estate Equities owns 70 office buildings totaling 27 million sf. Company vice chairman John Goff says the sale is part of an effort to streamline the company's portfolio, which also includes hotels and resort residential developments. The company is in the process of selling its hotel portfolio, which is spread across three states and totals 1,854 rooms.