Seattle Luxury High-Rise Trades for $174M
Gemdale USA sold the Class A property.
A joint venture between Goldman Sachs and Virtú Investments has purchased Skyglass Tower, a newly debuted, Class A luxury multifamily tower in Seattle. The 338-unit asset traded for $173.8 million, with the venture assuming a prior construction loan originated by Corebridge Financial, according to public records. Gemdale USA sold the high-rise.
Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller and advised the joint venture in the procurement of the acquisition financing. AIG provided $133 million in construction financing for Skyglass Tower in 2021. A year later, the finance and insurance corporation performed a spin-off via an initial public offering, forming Corebridge.
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The venture’s acquisition made use of the Virtú Evergreen Fund, an open-end fund launched in 2015 for generational ownership, long-term compounding, as well as tax efficiency and flexible liquidity. The fund is designed to take advantage of 1031 Exchanges to defer taxes on gains and cash flow.
HEWITT Architecture designed the 342-foot, LEED Gold-certified Skyglass with Cermak Peterka Petersen tapped as wind consultant. Venture General Contracting also joined the development team.
Rising 31 stories, the tower comprises studio and one- to three-bedroom floorplans ranging from 371 to 1,536 square feet. Skyglass features retail space at ground level and three floors of underground parking. Amenities consist of a rooftop green space, a gym, coworking spaces and clubrooms, to name a few.
Located at 757 Thomas St. inside Seattle’s South Lake Union, Skyglass Tower is within walking distance of the Google, Amazon and Apple campuses. The Space Needle, the Museum of Pop Culture, as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are also nearby.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets Executive Vice Chair Marc Renard alongside Managing Director Sam Wayne and Vice Chairman David Karson led the team representing the seller in the transaction proceedings.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Equity, Debt & Structured Finance Vice Chairman David Karson, Executive Managing Director Chris Moyer and Senior Director Paul Roeter, as well as Senior Associate Jason Blankfein, arranged the acquisition financing on behalf of the buyer.
The multifamily advertised asking rental rates go up in Seattle
Year-to-date through May, investors traded nine assets in metro Seattle for a total volume of $244 million, a recent Yardi Matrix report shows. Assets traded at an average price per unit of $265,933, marking a 16.7 percent decrease compared to the end of 2023. What’s more, last year’s multifamily transactions volume marked the lowest annual figure over the past decade, clocking in at $1.2 billion.
The metro’s average advertised asking rental rate ticked up by 0.6 percent on a trailing three-month basis through May, double the national growth during the same period, according to the same source. Looking at the statistics year-over-year, Seattle’s advertised asking rate spiked by 1.1 percent, once more overshadowing the national average of 0.6 percent.
Another recent metro Seattle transaction took place in Puyallup, Wash. Fourth Avenue Capital acquired Alder Walk Apartments, a 78-unit Class A community. Terrene Homes sold the property for $21.3 million.
