Market Reports

April 2023 brought mostly news of life science developments as the office market continues to be quiet.

In March construction began on a 260,000 square foot 12 story office building in the University District being developed by LPC West.

As the office market continues to soften, many developers will be considering conversion of office to other uses.

In January, BioMed Realty’s proposed Denny Park two-tower 600,000sf lab and office project cleared a hurdle.

At the end of Q4 2022 the Downtown Seattle Office Market vacancy stayed at 17.3% including 14.3% of direct vacancy and 3.0% of sublease vacancy. The 12-month net absorption for the Downtown Seattle Office Market at the end of Q4 2022 was negative 1,640,154 RSF.

The only news of office developments in December 2022 was that of The Jack topping out construction.

As reported in November, Sellen Construction is beginning the development of a mass timber project called 35 Stone located at 3524 Stone Way N.

The Norton Building was purchased last fall for over $147 million by Hines who has developed plans for renovations.

 After exploring expensive plans to convert a portion of Seattle’s Pacific Place shopping center to office, Hudson Pacific Properties appears to have punted on the deal. 

The overall Downtown Seattle Office Market vacancy rate at the end of Q3 2022 landed at 17.3%, comprised of 14.4% of direct vacancy and 2.9% of sublease vacancy. The 12-month net absorption is (1,563,821) RSF for the end of Q3 2022 and there is approximately 1,024,940 RSF under construction

The only news of office development in Seattle was that of a final design review for Gemdale USA’s potential project in South Lake Union located at 618 John St.

In July it was reported that Touchstone secured $196M in financing for their 2-tower office project commonly known as the Chapter Buildings in the U District submarket.

In June Kilroy Realty presented their SIXO mixed-use project to Seattle’s Landmarks Preservation Board.

In May Hudson Pacific Properties, the owner of Pacific Place mall located at 600 Pine Street in Seattle, filed preliminary plans with the city of Seattle to convert the 5 story building from retail to an office use.

At the close of Q2, 2022, the overall vacancy rate for the Downtown Seattle Office Market was 17%, including 14.1% of direct vacancy and 2.9% of sublease vacancy. The trend of rising vacancy continues and in there are no signs of the market strengthening anytime soon.

In April Hudson Pacific Properties closed on the purchase of the site for Washington 1000 a 16-story, 546,000 square foot office tower at 1000 Olive Way adjacent to the Washington State Convention Center.

At the finish of Q1 2022, the overall vacancy rate for the Downtown Seattle Office Market was 15.7%, comprised of 12.8% of direct vacancy and 2.9% of sublease vacancy. The overall vacancy rate continues the steady quarterly uptick we experienced in 2021

General Overview At the close of 2021, the overall vacancy rate for the Downtown Seattle Office Market increased to 15.4%, comprised of 12% of direct vacancy and 3.4% of sublease vacancy. The overall vacancy rate increased significantly throughout 2021 rising from 10.3% at the end of 2020, to 13.7% in Q1 2021, 14.4% in Q2...