Report: Strategic downtown Seattle blocks for sale near Amazon HQ

Two central blocks in downtown Seattle, close to Amazon’s headquarters and wedged between the Westin hotel, Westlake Center and the Pacific Place shopping mall, have quietly been put on the market, according to a real-estate trade publication.

Seattle-based real-estate company Vance Corp. is listing the property at $175 million, reports the Real Estate Alerts newsletter.

The several parcels together span 1.4 acres on two blocks stretching from Stewart Street to Olive Way, between Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue.

It’s a strategic space between the traditional central business district and the South Lake Union neighborhood dominated by Amazon.

“The location is excellent and is really well suited for a variety of uses,” said Lori Hill, a senior vice president of investor management of the Seattle-based real-estate investing firm Unico Properties.

One block away is Amazon’s headquarters complex. In 2012, Amazon scooped up three blocks on Westlake Avenue, Sixth Avenue and Blanchard street for $207.5 million to add to its growing Amazon campus, in a $207.5 million sale. It has since demolished the old low-rise properties on those blocks to make way for a 3.3 million square-foot office complex along with smaller mixed-used buildings and the glass and metal conservatory showpiece it calls the Spheres.

“I think with the flexibility of the zoning it would get interest from a variety of types of groups,” Hill said.

Real Estate Alerts said the parcels of land have the potential to accommodate up to 2.5 million square feet of space.

The parcels are currently home to the 10-story Lloyd Building, a Bank of America branch and a hodgepodge of garage and retail space. The Lloyd Building, which is more than 90 years old, was granted landmark status in 2010.

Vance owns five properties downtown. In 2012, the Joshua Green Corp. acquired the nearby Plaza 600 building on Stewart Street and Sixth Avenue from Vance in a $54.9 million sale as property prices soared thanks to what experts called the Amazon Effect.

“Certainly the market is very strong right now so if an owner was looking to sell now, it’s very good timing. The Seattle economy is doing very, very well,” Hill said.

Vance did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Newmark, the company Real Estate Alerts said is marketing the space, was not able to confirm if the land was on the market.