Unico Properties has listed for sale a portion of the retail space in a residential condominium tower near the popular Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle, where tourism and office traffic have rebounded this year after sharp declines during the COVID-19 era.
The 48,000-square-foot space, put on the market for an undisclosed price, is part of a larger retail area in the 13-story tower at 98 Union St. and 1401 1st Ave. one of the city's busiest intersections and the nexus to Pike Place, an international tourist destination with roughly 10 million annual visitors. Pike Place, which opened in 1907, is one of the oldest continuously operated public markets in the United States, according to its website.
Among the current tenants in the building, Pike Brewing has operated a brewery and restaurants at the location for over 13 years. The brewing company occupies 14,709 square feet on a lease slated to run through at least 2035, according to the listing by Northmarq, Unico's investment adviser.
The brewery and nine other businesses lease 69% of the retail area. An undisclosed distillery is planning to open in 12,265 square feet which would boost occupancy to 94%, according to Northmarq.
Unico Properties acquired the three stories of commercial condominium space, which represents all of the retail space at Union Street and 1st Avenue, from Greenwich, Connecticut-based Solon Mack Capital in February 2013 for $9.2 million, CoStar data shows.
Leasing overall in downtown Seattle has remained slow amid several high-profile store and restaurant departures this year, including the Hard Rock Cafe near Pike Place Market, which closed this month. Nike also shuttered its 25,000-square-foot NikeTown location at Sixth Avenue and Pike Street.
About 180,000 square feet of downtown retail is listed as available for lease, higher than the five-year average of 130,000 square feet, according to CoStar Market Analytics. Despite the store closures and high vacancies, retail rents in downtown Seattle, which are among the highest in the Puget Sound region, have increased 3.5% over the past 12 months, CoStar data shows.
A bright spot for Seattle businesses has been a recovery in tourist and office worker traffic this year. The number of total downtown visitors reached its highest levels since 2019 over the summer, with a high of about 3.2 million visitors in July, according to data from the Downtown Seattle Association.