Stanford Hotels Corp. is paying an eye-popping price of $16.75 million for a downtown Seattle development site, according to a court ruling.
The price that Stanford is paying for the nearly one-third acre surface parking lot at Fifth Avenue and Stewart Street is almost twice as much as what another hotel developer, Stonebridge Cos., had offered to pay for the property that has been tangled in a years-long foreclosure.
But it’s significantly less than the $30 million that the New York group that lost the property paid for it in late 2007.
Officials of San Francisco-based Stanford declined to comment on their plans for the property at 1903 Fifth Ave., which is across the street from the two-tower Westin Seattle. Stanford is planning another Seattle project, a 15-story hotel at 300 Terry Ave. N., near Amazon.com’s campus.
The turn of events at Fifth and Stewart is the latest example of how hotels are becoming a favored class among investors and developers. Several large projects in Seattle are planned and construction has started on one.
Bellevue-based Kauri Investments broke ground last week on a hotel and apartment complex at Fifth Avenue and Broad Street, company President and CEO Kent Angier said. The development across from the Space Needle will have a 116-room Hyatt as well as 56 apartments.
The site that Stanford is buying was part of a block-long development called the Heron and Pagoda. Multi Capital Group of New York had planned two 46-story towers with condos, a hotel and office and retail space.
US Bank was the lender on the portion of the block at 1903 Fifth. The bank foreclosed on the property and turned it over to a receiver to sell it. The receiver retained Craig Hill and Janet Backus, brokers with NAI Puget Sound Properties, to market the property for sale.
That was in early 2012. At the time, Hill said the asking price was $7.5 million. Court documents state that an initial bid of nearly $7.9 million was received, though the group that made that offer was not named.
Denver-based Stonebridge stepped in and offered nearly $8.5 million and planned an 18-story hotel at the northwest corner of Fifth and Stewart. But, court records state, the contract was “unperformable,” and the receiver and Stonebridge amended the agreement, which allowed the property to go to auction. The agreement that Stonebridge negotiated included a $500,000 “break up fee” to cover costs associated with planning the 18-story hotel it had planned for the site.
On Tuesday, Backus said the disposition process was lengthy because it involved four entities what had bought the property in 2007. The four — Reuben Corp.; JJ Lyons Associates Inc.; Bronx Al Limited Liability Co.; and Bronx RMT LLC — were working with Multi Capital on the Heron and Pagoda.
“It just went on and on and on,” Backus said, adding the price that Stanford is paying is further evidence that downtown Seattle is “one of the most sought out development areas in the country.”
The price that Stanford is paying for the nearly one-third acre surface parking lot at Fifth Avenue and Stewart Street is almost twice as much as what another hotel developer, Stonebridge Cos., had offered to pay for the property that has been tangled in a years-long foreclosure.
But it’s significantly less than the $30 million that the New York group that lost the property paid for it in late 2007.
Officials of San Francisco-based Stanford declined to comment on their plans for the property at 1903 Fifth Ave., which is across the street from the two-tower Westin Seattle. Stanford is planning another Seattle project, a 15-story hotel at 300 Terry Ave. N., near Amazon.com’s campus.
The turn of events at Fifth and Stewart is the latest example of how hotels are becoming a favored class among investors and developers. Several large projects in Seattle are planned and construction has started on one.
Bellevue-based Kauri Investments broke ground last week on a hotel and apartment complex at Fifth Avenue and Broad Street, company President and CEO Kent Angier said. The development across from the Space Needle will have a 116-room Hyatt as well as 56 apartments.
The site that Stanford is buying was part of a block-long development called the Heron and Pagoda. Multi Capital Group of New York had planned two 46-story towers with condos, a hotel and office and retail space.
US Bank was the lender on the portion of the block at 1903 Fifth. The bank foreclosed on the property and turned it over to a receiver to sell it. The receiver retained Craig Hill and Janet Backus, brokers with NAI Puget Sound Properties, to market the property for sale.
That was in early 2012. At the time, Hill said the asking price was $7.5 million. Court documents state that an initial bid of nearly $7.9 million was received, though the group that made that offer was not named.
Denver-based Stonebridge stepped in and offered nearly $8.5 million and planned an 18-story hotel at the northwest corner of Fifth and Stewart. But, court records state, the contract was “unperformable,” and the receiver and Stonebridge amended the agreement, which allowed the property to go to auction. The agreement that Stonebridge negotiated included a $500,000 “break up fee” to cover costs associated with planning the 18-story hotel it had planned for the site.
On Tuesday, Backus said the disposition process was lengthy because it involved four entities what had bought the property in 2007. The four — Reuben Corp.; JJ Lyons Associates Inc.; Bronx Al Limited Liability Co.; and Bronx RMT LLC — were working with Multi Capital on the Heron and Pagoda.
“It just went on and on and on,” Backus said, adding the price that Stanford is paying is further evidence that downtown Seattle is “one of the most sought out development areas in the country.”