Madison Marquette Grabs 202 KSF M-U Property in Seattle Suburb

By Gail Kalinoski, Contributing Editor

Madison Marquette has teamed up with two foreign institutional investors in a joint venture to purchase the Bellevue Galleria, a 202,000-square-foot mixed-use project in the Seattle suburb’s downtown.

The Washington, D.C.-based private real estate investment and operating company, did not release the purchase price but the Puget Sound Business Journal reported it sold for $87.6 million. The Bellevue Galleria, built in 1999 in Bellevue, Wash., is 97 percent leased to retail and office tenants and includes a 794-space underground parking garage. RP Realty Partners, a full-service Los Angeles real estate investment firm that bought the 550 106^th  Ave. N.E., property for $53.4 million in 2007, was the seller, according to the business journal.

The mixed-use asset is the first acquisition of the joint venture which is targeting infill, retail and mixed-use properties in major markets throughout the United States. Madison Marquette declined to identify its joint venture partners.

“We are excited to launch our programmatic joint venture through the acquisition of Bellevue Galleria, which continues our firm’s long-established strategy of focusing on infill investments in dense, affluent markets with significant momentum and upside,” Amer Hammour, chairman of Madison Marquette, said in a news release. “Bellevue Galleria is ideally suited to our integrated investment operating platform and affords the opportunity for us to continue to significantly enhance the value of this institutional asset.”

Chad Eisenbud, the San Francisco-based director of investments for Madison Marquette, noted that the acquisition “signals our commitment to growing our presence in the Seattle area.”

The firm owns six properties in Washington, including two in Seattle. Bellevue Galleria has retail and office space on three levels. It is anchored by Gene Juarez Salon and LA Fitness and includes numerous retailers like Men’s Wearhouse and restaurants like Tap House and Rock Bottom Brewery. Located near WA 520 and Interstate 405, major employers like Microsoft, Expedia, Google and Symetra are also nearby. Washington’s fifth largest city, Bellevue’s average household income is $130,000, according to demographic information provided by Madison Marquette.

Madison Marquette said it is actively seeking similar acquisitions in key markets across the U.S. The company’s news release noted that the joint venture in Bellevue is “also part of a strategic effort by Madison Marquette and its parent company, Capital Guidance, to broaden its investment management platform and capital relationships both nationally and internationally.”

Earlier this year, Madison Marquette bought a 450,000-square-foot office building in Long Island City in Queens, N.Y., for $85 million. That purchase was made through funds within the Perella Weinberg Partners’ Asset –Based Value strategy. Also on the East Coast, Madison Marquette and PN Hoffman are developing The Wharf, a $2 billion, 3 million-square-foot, mixed-use project along the Southwest Waterfront in Washington, D.C. The first phase is slated for completion in 2016 and will include rental apartments, 134 condominium residences, three hotels and significant office, retail and convention space.