Seattle Commercial Real Estate has posted a series of articles recently dealing with close-in industrial real estate and the high demand for industrial uses close to the downtown Seattle commercial real estate core. A recent article shockingly dealt with 323,750 square feet of former office building. The Tukwila office buildings were assessed at a value of $152 per square foot. The buildings were surplus and sold by Boeing for a mere $60 per square foot. The real story however was not the sale, but what the buildings are being repurposed for. The answer is that they are being converted to a self-storage facility!
Another recent article was about the development of a first in the country, a vertical warehouse project. The facts are clear. There is only so much land and demand dictates a need to redevelop to a higher and better use. The single family goes to multi-family, the regional shopping center becomes a life style development with offices, residences, hotels and more (Link to article to follow) and the no longer viable office building becomes and industrial use for self-storage.
The job of the professionals of Seattle Commercial Real Estate is to keep abreast of these changes and look past the current use to what the future may hold.
