Orton Development bought Seattle’s 20-story Plaza 600, across from Amazon’s headquarters, for $12.5 million—87% below its $97 million 2019 valuation. Downtown office vacancy reached 35.8% in Q2, and a July listing offered half the tower’s office space for lease.
Plaza 600 was more than 91% leased when a December 2019 recapitalization valued it at $97 million. Its owners announced renovations in 2023. In 2024, BGO said a loan restructuring cut the building’s debt and extended its maturity; ownership also lined up more than $10 million in committed capital to reposition it.
Seattle’s overall office vacancy was 32.7%, the highest among 92 U.S. markets tracked by Cushman & Wakefield. The firm said Amazon planned to keep reducing its downtown footprint in favor of new construction in Bellevue. It estimated downtown would need eight years to refill current vacancies if all pre-pandemic tenants returned, versus 16 years without Amazon. In Q2, Seattle-region multifamily vacancy was 7.2% and Seattle industrial vacancy was 9.4%; nationally, industrial vacancy was 6.9%. Multifamily drew $34.9 billion, or 27% of U.S. commercial real estate deal volume that quarter, according to CBRE.
