The Re-Emergence of Seattle’s Belltown Neighborhood for Class A Tenants Commercial Office Space

Sitting comfortably between Seattle Center and Pike Place Market, and along the city’s bustling downtown waterfront, Belltown is one of the most popular and eclectic neighborhoods in the city. Celebrated for its trendy boutiques, spirited bars and delectable eateries, Belltown has long been a centerpiece of Seattle’s residential and retail core. Perhaps less known about the neighborhood, though, is the opportunity for businesses to locate their workforces in Belltown, largely driven by a robust collection of commercial properties owned and managed by Martin Selig Real Estate.

Over the past few decades, we’ve assembled a total of six Class A office buildings in Belltown that cater to a myriad of commercial office types — technology, biomedical, life sciences, and professional services, to name just a few. These Seattle office spaces include:

• Third & Lenora
• Fourth and Blanchard
• Fourth and Battery
• Third and Battery
• Fourth and Vine
• Third & Broad

Commercial office is a rare product type in Belltown because of Seattle’s selective zoning which heavily incentivizes the creation of mid- and high-rise residential and retail, among other product types. MSRE, in fact, was grandfathered into zoning that at one time encouraged the development of Class A buildings in Belltown. Our commercial-office buildings are centrally located in the neighborhood, too, enabling companies large and small to establish a wholly unique work experience for their teams.

And that experience continues to flourish for employers due to a slate of new development and neighborhood improvements on the horizon. Much of the excitement around Belltown’s future stems from Seattle’s Office of the Waterfront, which recently proposed a $750 million redevelopment plan for the next three to four years in downtown Seattle. That plan would feature the revival of a 20-acre open space that includes green space, a public-concert venue and a remodeled Seattle Aquarium. The robust initiative also calls for new parks to be created throughout the city, and a new surface roadway along the Seattle Waterfront, making it much more friendly to pedestrians and other passers-by.

Other real estate developments planned for Belltown will cater to corporations looking to headquarter or expand their physical footprint in the community. Over the next five to 10 years, Seattle office space will move towards a 24/7 lifestyle experience, with numerous after-hours venues being planned, among other service-oriented offerings. Several new buildings are either in the early planning phases or already going vertical. In addition, many renovation projects on existing Belltown buildings are well underway, together revitalizing the built environment and increasing lifestyle opportunities for a quickly emerging neighborhood workforce.

This brings some great opportunities and optimism to large-scale users like the University of Washington, Microsoft, Amazon, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research, as well as start-up businesses looking for Class A office space for lease or rent in Seattle’s lifestyle core. And Martin Selig Real Estate will be right here, in Belltown, ready to accommodate that commercial office space growth and serve our tenants with everything they need to succeed.