Qwest Plaza Building in Seattle Sold for $137M

Clarion Partners acquired the Qwest Plaza building at 1600 Seventh Avenue in downtown Seattle, Washington for $137 million from CenturyLink, formerly known as Qwest Communications. The purchase was made on behalf of a separate account client of the firm in an offmarket transaction. CenturyLink was represented by Newmark Knight Frank Frederick Ross in the transaction and a new lease negotiation which has the company still occupying 260,000 square feet of the tower.

Additionally, Nordstrom is leasing more than 300,000 square feet in the building for a term of 20 years, with an option to take more space, said Nordstrom spokesman Colin Johnson. Nordstrom has been on the hunt for more downtown Seattle office space, and the Qwest Plaza building is near the Seattle retailer's headquarters and flagship building, according to a Puget Sound Business Journal article. "This new location is to accommodate our continuing growth," Nordstrom spokesman Colin Johnson said. "It's a long-term solution." Nordstrom recently said it planned to hire 400 tech workers to round out the retail company's fast-growing ecommerce division.

"We are thrilled to have been able to secure such high quality companies as Nordstrom and CenturyLink as tenants," said Stephen P. Latimer, Managing Director at Clarion Partners. "We look forward to rejuvenating the building with New York, April 3, 2012 the renovation and bringing in additional retail uses in this key location in the city."

Designed by John Graham & Company and completed in 1976, the building was originally known as the Pacific Northwest Bell Building, and has also been called 1600 Bell Plaza, and US West Communications. The 598,000-square-foot tower was reportedly 88% leased at the time of sale.

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