Zara founder, Amazon spend big on Seattle housing

A couple of heavy hitters made significant, though disparate, investments in Seattle-area real estate last week.

First, Pontegadea, the realty group owned by the founder of the fast fashion chain Zara, Amancio Ortega, bought the Kiara skyscraper at 111 Terry Avenue North in Seattle for $323 million, Bloomberg reported.

It’s the second foray in the luxury multifamily market for Ortega’s family office, which in June purchased 19 Dutch Street, a 64-story tower in New York, for nearly $500 million.

Pontegadea has amassed a portfolio of office and retail properties, particularly in South Florida, though it also owns an office building in Seattle where Amazon is a tenant.

Prime investment

Meanwhile, Amazon last week announced it is investing another $150 million to develop or preserve about 1,700 affordable housing units in the Puget Sound region, Axios reported.

The latest announcement brings Amazon’s investment in affordable housing in the Seattle area to $500 million, Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund director Catherine Buell, told the outlet.

Amazon, through its Amazon Housing Equity Fund, has invested significantly in the area in light of claims that the company has contributed to rising housing costs and gentrification.

Low-rate loans and grants in the most recent round of funding will go to 10 housing projects in Seattle, Renton, Bothell, Tacoma, Federal Way, and Kirkland, Axios reported. The units will be available to individuals and families who earn between 30 and 80 percent of the area’s median income, which was $105,000 in 2021.

It’s estimated that in 2019 there was a shortage of more than 80,000 units in the Seattle metro area and 140,000 units statewide.

— Ted Glanzer