Press release

Commerz Real acquires Facebook office in Seattle for hausInvest

• New Dexter Station building with interior design by star architect Frank Gehry
• Purchase price of 286 million US dollars
• Lease agreement for 31,000 square metres through to 2027
• RFR Group invests as joint venture partner

Commerz Real has acquired the new Dexter Station office building in Seattle, Washington, USA, for its open-ended real estate fund hausInvest. The seller of the complex of buildings is Stockbridge Capital Group; the purchase price is approx. 286 million US dollars. RFR Group is investing as joint-venture partner of Commerz Real and will also be responsible for the asset and property management.

The sole tenant of the office space with a lease agreement for ten years is Facebook. The Seattle offices of the company have been housed in the building since 2016 and it has invested approx. 50 million US dollars in the development of the office areas. The interior architect was Frank Gehry, famous for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, among other projects. The retail areas on the ground floor are leased to Starbucks, Custom Smoothie and Potbelly Sandwich Shop. The building has floor space of approx. 32,000 square metres and LEED Gold certification; it has flexible floor areas sized between approx. 2,200 and 5,000 square metres. “With this prime real estate and a top tenant we are offering our investors the opportunity to participate in the highly attractive and growing Seattle market and thus to benefit from the potential value appreciation there,” explains Andreas Muschter, the Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of Commerz Real.

With more than 650,000 residents, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern Unites States. The metropolitan region Puget Sound has a population of more than 3.6 million and is one of the biggest office markets in the United States. Several large, successful and rapidly growing companies in the IT and telecommunications industry have their main offices here. Companies such as Boeing and Starbucks also manage their global activities from Seattle.

The Lake Union partial market, which also encompasses Dexter Station, is primarily home to companies from the technology and media sectors. A diverse array of shopping facilities, as well as parks and green areas, make it attractive for residents. Thus a residential area with more than 5,000 housing units is located in the immediate neighbourhood. “The parallel nature of urban residential culture and office areas meets the need of employees for central working, residential and shopping areas,” says Muschter. “Such a location is an important advantage for companies competing for personnel”. Against this background, Dexter Station also has roof decks, bicycle garages and a fitness studio. Excellent connections are guaranteed by seven quickly accessible bus lines and the cycle tracks South Lake Union Trail and Dexter Avenue.