The sign on 801 Holgate generated some interesting inquiries. One call was from a company that provided the local Costco Stores with their cheese cakes and other bakery goods. Their warehouse in South Seattle had been condemned by Sound Transit for the rail link to Sea Tac Airport. While searching for a space for their need we also contacted the owner of the condemned property. They are the successful operators of a family owned supply business in South Seattle.
The family portfolio of properties included another site condemned by Sound Transit and these sale proceeds were to be taken through a 1033 Sale. We found a major assemblage on Rainier Avenue just south of I-90 and used the proceeds of both sales to acquire the first phase on a major assemblage.
The family owned a garage on a corner in the Rainier Valley with pollution issues which we sold and a former restaurant building which the family also sold through SCRE. We also leased a smaller building for the client in a strip shopping center to a non profit for use as an office for the majority of the space and a check cashing company for the street frontage portion of the building. We concluded two leases for the front of the building and are working on a new lease for the balance when both tenants left following the vacancies created from the original tenants. In a Burien holding we helped the family acquire an adjacent property and released several vacant spots in a strip mall.
Another client of SCRE asked us to value a small warehouse facility in South Seattle with yard space, and then to market the property for his client. It took us 15 minutes to bring our client in the warehouse distribution business across the street, through the building and enter into the transaction for its purchase. We subsequently leased the small warehouse several times.
Even the addition of warehouse space across the street did not meet the space needs of this client. In a very competitive warehouse market we located a 90,000 square foot facility for the client (we prevailed over the other six offers), sold their former 35,000 square foot facility, and leased and redeveloped another major holding owned by the family along the light rail connection to the airport.
