Acacia Takes First Hill Complex for $61M; Regence BlueShield Puts HQ on the Block

By Alex Girda, Associate Editor

 An affiliate of Acacia Capital Corp. of San Mateo has wrapped King County’s second-largest multi-family trade of the year: the $61 million acquisition of the 351-unit property at 1000 Eighth Avenue in First Hill, the Seattle Times reported. The property showed a tidy upside for the seller, Bascom Northwest Ventures. The affiliate of Irvine, Calif.-based Bascom Group L.L.C. acquired the 62-year-old property in 2004 for $37 million.

Regence BlueShield in Seattle is putting its Seattle headquarters building on the block, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported.  Regence is one of Washington’s major healthcare insurance carriers, and its headquarters, located at 800 Ninth Ave., is only two-thirds occupied. A growing number of Regence employees working remotely or relocating to other cities has helped reduce the company’s space needs at the property, the Business Journal reported. Regence offered the building for sale without naming an asking price.

Another Seattle office building is destined for a distinctly different future. The former Korry Electronics headquarters at 901 Dexter Avenue North in the city’s thriving South Lake Union district is slated for redevelopment into a 284-unit apartment complex. Vancouver, Wash.-based Holland Partners Group, which is developing the project in league with Boston-based investment banking firm Capstone Partners L.L.C., recently broke ground. The move is another signal of Seattle’s appeal to multi-family developers, particularly for up-and-coming areas like South Lake Union. Developer Vulcan Inc. is leading the transformation of that once-fading industrial district into a vibrant showcase of urban renewal.