Kilroy Pays $490M for Amazon-Anchored Tower

West 8th

Kilroy Realty Corp. has paid $490 million for the acquisition of West 8th, a LEED Platinum certified office tower totaling 539,000 square feet in Seattle. The Amazon-anchored high-rise was fully leased at the time of the sale.

The seller, DWS Group, formerly Deutsche Asset Management, acquired the property in 2016 for $370 million, CommercialEdge data shows.

The 28-story office complex rises at 2001 Eighth Ave., within the Denny Triangle submarket. The Class A+ office tower was built in 2009 and includes a retail component. The property features an average floorplate size of 20,000 square feet, 13-foot ceiling heights and provides fitness and conference centers, a cafe and several restaurants.

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In addition to its LEED designation, the multi-tenant asset also achieved a two-star Fitwell, as well as Energy Star certification.

Amazon moved into the building nearly a decade ago and is currently leasing approximately 70 percent of the property, with its lease set to expire in April 2023. The tenant roster also includes Casey Family Programs, Bright Horizons and Seattle Children’s Research Institute, among others, CommercialEdge data shows.

Adjacent to Amazon’s corporate offices, West 8th is roughly a mile north of downtown Seattle, with major street exposure to Westlake Avenue. The office tower is also less than a mile from the Space Needle.

Earlier deals

While the current acquisition brings Kilroy’s greater Seattle area footprint just shy of three million square feet, the REIT is also expanding in Texas. In June, Kilroy spent $580 million to purchase Austin’s tallest office high-rise, Indeed Tower, which recently received LEED v4 Platinum certification.

In March, the disposition of The Exchange on 16th, a 750,000-square-foot office property in San Francisco, brought approximately $1 billion to the REIT. KKR purchased the asset that was fully leased at the time of the sale.

The company is also branching out into one of the most highly sought-after commercial real estate sectors right now, life sciences. In June, Kilroy broke ground on Gravitate, the second phase of its $940 million megaproject, Kilroy Oyster Point, totaling 3 million square feet in San Francisco.