Acore Capital Takes Seattle Building From Martin Selig

Acore Capital has taken control of a prime development site on Seattle’s waterfront as a result of Martin Selig Real Estate’s crumbling office empire.

The San Francisco-based lender took control of a century-old building slated to be redeveloped into a 17-story office and apartment tower at 815 Western Avenue through a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported, citing Urban Renaissance Group.

It’s not clear if there had been a loan default tied to the four-story commercial building, considered Selig’s most valuable development site. The debt on the property was undisclosed.

The move comes after Selig, the largest independent developer in the Pacific Northwest, surrendered two office buildings and risks losing 14 more tied to $618 million in distressed loans, according to the newspaper.

The company founder, 88-year-old Martin Selig, laid off 86 property managers just before Jordan Selig, his daughter and heir to the firm, jumped ship.

Plans for the block at 815 Western, dubbed 800 Alaskan, had called for a 17-story, 519,000-square-foot glass tower with 106 luxury apartments atop offices, shops and restaurants, at the center of downtown Seattle’s waterfront, according to architecture firm Perkins&Will.

Locally based Urban Renaissance was tapped by Acore to manage the property, across the street from Colman Dock and a new Waterfront Park.

The Commuter Building, built in 1906, was originally a meat packing factory and now contains commercial storefronts. Martin Selig bought the 32,600 block bounded by Western, Marion and Columbia streets and Alaskan Way in 2018 for $44 million, or $1,350 per square foot.

Its assessed value is now $20.2 million, according to the Business Journal.

An unidentified Urban Renaissance Group spokesperson told the Business Journal the company will completely redesign and re-entitle the project. The Martin Selig firm was unavailable for comment to the Business Journal.

Last month, Acore Capital acquired two office buildings from the 67-year-old development firm after it defaulted on a $240 million loan tied to the new 15-story tower at 400 Westlake Avenue N in South Lake Union and the 11-story Federal Reserve Building at 1015 Second Avenue downtown. URG said it’s managing both buildings.

A year ago, Selig risked imminent default on $239 million in loans tied to seven older buildings with 1.1 million square feet of offices in Seattle, each sent to special servicing.

Martin Selig Real Estate, founded by Selig in 1958, had a commercial portfolio of 31 buildings and 4.9 million square feet as of December, according to its website. In the 1980s, it owned a third of all of the offices in Seattle.

— Dana Bartholomew