JLL announced that Casey Zejdlik will join the firm as a Senior Director in its Investment Sales and Advisory private capital multi-housing team.

Zejdlik’s extensive expertise and successful track record will further enhance JLL’s capabilities in the multi-housing investment sector. With over 19 years of experience, Zejdlik has completed more than 290 transactions, including nearly 50 1031 exchanges.

“We’re excited to welcome Casey to our team,” said Corey Marx, Senior Managing Director. “His depth of knowledge and experience in multi-family real estate investment will be an asset to our private capital clients.”

Previously, Zejdlik co-founded and served as an advisor at Pilot Ventures and has held senior roles at Northmarq and CPX. Prior to his real estate career, he spent six years as a Nuclear Engineer in the Navy. Zejdlik holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering Technology and is a recipient of two Navy Achievement Medals.

Seattle Theatre Group, which owns and operates three local historic theaters, has paid $6 million for a 103-year-old Cornish College property.

Seattle Theatre Group bought the landmark Kerry Hall from the Cornish College of the Arts. The building, located at 710 E. Roy St., in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, was built in 1921 and was the home of Nellie Cornish, the college’s founder.

“We are thrilled to be able to turn this special space over to Seattle Theatre Group, one of Seattle’s most respected arts institutions,” said Cornish Interim President Emily Parkhurst. “It was important to the Board of Trustees that the building remain in the arts community and that our founder, Nellie Cornish’s legacy be honored.” 

Seattle Theatre Group, which operates the Paramount, Moore and Neptune Theaters and an outdoor venue at Remlinger Farms in Carnation, will use the building to grow and expand its community-centered arts programming.

Lightstone has acquired The Outlet Collection Seattle from Washington Prime Group for $82 million.

Located in the greater Seattle metropolitan area, the Seattle Outlet Collection is an enclosed outlet center that spans 920,000 square feet. Lightstone has engaged seasoned industry professionals Nicholas King, formerly COO of Prime and Paragon Outlets, Michele Dawson and Scott Ferguson of FFO Real Estate Advisors to handle outlet tenant leasing, and Spinoso Real Estate Group to handle leasing. 

Upon acquisition by Lightstone, the firm plans to invest over $10 million in capital improvements and tenancy upgrades across the enclosed mall. “We see tremendous opportunity in this investment, and are looking forward to tapping into its full potential,” said David Lichtenstein, Chairman and CEO of Lightstone.

Currently operating at 98% occupancy, a selection of the mall’s tenants include Nordstrom Rack, Burlington, Best Buy, Dave & Busters, Polo Ralph Lauren, Kate Spade, Ulta, Coach, Nike, Adidas, and Michael Kors.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. announced the completion of the sale, through an affiliate, of 1165 Eastlake Avenue East in its Lake Union submarket of Seattle to longstanding tenant Fred Hutch Cancer Center.

Alexandria developed and delivered the fully leased 100,086-square-foot, single-tenant life science facility in 2021. It sold for $150.0 million at a strong capitalization rate of 4.9%. As part of the transaction, Alexandria, through an affiliate, entered into a strategic joint venture partnership with Fred Hutch with respect to each of 1201 and 1208 Eastlake Avenue East through a transfer of partial interests from the prior joint venture partner to Fred Hutch. Alexandria’s ownership interest in each of 1201 and 1208 Eastlake remains unchanged at 30%.

“This opportunity allows us to swiftly advance our research and expand our South Lake Union campus in the heart of Seattle’s life science and biotech community,” said Thomas J. Lynch Jr., MD, president and director of Fred Hutch. “We appreciated the collaborative relationship with Alexandria as we explored and finalized this important agreement that will support our mission to prevent, treat and cure cancer and infectious disease.”

California-based Orton Development is considering converting the nearly century-old Joseph Vance Building, an art deco property in downtown Seattle.

Location at the corner of Third Avenue and Union Street downtown, the project would turn unused Seattle offices into housing, reported the Seattle Times. City and state officials have recently passed legislation to encourage and support developers to undertake these types of conversion projects, offering tax breaks and regulatory relief.

Potential plans are still being finalized, but the Vance building project includes the initial vision to create 155 residential units and 10,000 square feet of retail space in the 14-story building. The 1929 Vance building offers potential as a conversion, given the property’s shape and layout.

Another one of Seattle’s well-known office buildings, Smith Tower, was recently sold to Seattle-based GT Capital which acquired the 110-year-old, 42-story building and Butler Garage in Pioneer Square.

Photo credit: Kidder Mathews

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell recently signed a proposed bill that would promote the conversion of vacant and underused buildings into affordable housing.

The measure would help developers looking to convert existing buildings from commercial to residential uses. The proposed changes aim to make it easier and more straightforward to convert existing structures into residential use, supporting housing development in the city, particularly in and near downtown.

“While we know there remains a need for office space, this effort will give us flexibility to help optimize our built environment and create the downtown we want to see–a thriving workplace and vibrant community for families and residents of all backgrounds,” said Harrell. “These changes are a critical step in moving the idea of office conversion to a reality.”

The proposed legislation would establish clear guidelines for residential conversions and provide broad exemptions from design development standards. The changes would also reduce the cost of conversion to residential use by exempting conversions to housing from the City’s Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) requirements. 

IRA Capital, an Irvine-based private equity firm, completed the acquisition of Quail Park of Lynnwood, a 253-unit, Class A senior housing property located in Washington. The all-cash acquisition, completed in partnership with an institutional joint-venture partner, includes plans to invest additional capital to update common areas and amenities.

Quail Park, spread across 15 acres and developed in two phases in 2013 and 2020, is an upscale, highly amenitized senior living community boasting full-size kitchens and spacious floor plans. “We are thrilled about acquiring Quail Park and continuing our growth in the senior housing sector,” said Jay Gangwal, Managing Partner at IRA Capital. “With a robust pipeline of investment opportunities, we anticipate closing on another $325 million in new investments over the next 30 days.”

“Quail Park of Lynnwood is a testament to our commitment to senior housing and our growth-focused strategy,” said Azhar Jameeli, Managing Director at IRA Capital.

The Coliseum Theater in downtown Seattle, one of the city’s historic landmarks, is headed to auction.

The 36,904-square-foot retail building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is going up for auction next month, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal. Newmark has listed the property with a starting bid of $2 million, and Ten-X Commercial will be the auctioneer. The seller is a company based in Iowa that bought the property in 2007 for $13 million.

Located at 1508 5th Avenue, The Coliseum was originally built as a state-of-the-art cinema in 1916 and later became a Banana Republic store. The 16,200 square feet of leasable space is currently fully occupied by Actualize AiR, a gallery and event space, and an espresso coffee shop. The Coliseum is situated in the heart of downtown, close to Nordstrom’s flagship store, Pike Place Market, the Washington State Convention Center and Amazon’s world headquarters.