Microsoft Corp. Co-founder Paul Allen’s real estate company which forms part of his Vulcan Inc. Investment group, will be selling the Central Seattle buildings which are currently the headquarters for internet retail giant Amazon, said Vulcan Real Estate in a statement last Thursday.
Allen’s real estate wing wishes to sell the South Union Lake neighborhood properties for the capital required to develop other nearby lands.
Amazon has so far refused to speak to the media about the sale and it is unknown if they will be bidding to buy the 11 buildings on 1.8 million square feet of land in which they are presently headquartered. The retailer only recently moved into the property but has already mentioned that plans are in the works to build more offices to accommodate their ever-increasing staff.
Paul Allen is one of the main players in Central Seattle’s revitalization, bringing industry, retail and fashionable restaurants to the city’s South Union Lake area, which was, until a few years ago, a run-down, depressed semi-industrialized area. Co-founding Microsoft with classmate Bill Gates, the business tycoon has made the former “wasteland” a thriving tech Mecca with shrewd investment and has brought jobs and an economic boom to many at a time when most of the world is suffering a global recession.
Vulcan mentioned that the firm in charge of the listing will be CBRE.
