If the current heated pace holds up, 2012 will be the strongest for Seattle area office property investment since 2007. For 25 completed transactions, first half 2012 amassed $1.25 billion in sales, 73.7% of the dollar total recorded by Reis for all of last year. The total for the second quarter alone for 15 completed sales was $933.4 million. Average selling price and mean cap rate for the period were $354 psf and 6.5%. In the quarter’s largest transaction, largest in a year, CommonWealth Partners paid Northwestern Mutual $480 million ($550 psf) for the 872,026-square-foot Russell Investments Center (the former Washington Mutual building) at 1301 2nd Avenue, Seattle. The 2006-built building, which re-filled rapidly following the demise of WaMu, was 3.0% vacant at time of sale. The deal closed in April at a 4.3% cap rate.
Deals since the quarter ended include KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT’s $78.7 million acquisition of the “sprawling” 46-acre QBE Corporate Campus office park in Bellevue, GlobeSt.com reported in August. The nine-building, 326,384-square-foot, 62.0%-occupied property will be renamed Bellevue Technology Center, according to the report. In addition, American Assets Trust, Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire the 27-story “trophy LEED-EB Gold certified,” 497,000-square-foot City Center Bellevue office tower in downtown Bellevue, Thomson Reuters ONE reported in late July. A purchase price of “approximately $229 million” is cited.