Not much detail on the story at this point but the Daily Journal of Commerce is reporting that the Broadway Market shopping complex, home to Urban Outfitters, La Puerta, Broadway Shoe Repair, Gyro World, Broadway Video, Gold’s Gym and one of two Broadway QFCs, has sold for what could be a massive discount to its last sale price from a decade ago. UPDATE from Broadway Market’s owners, below.
$14.7M paid for Broadway Market
By JOURNAL STAFF
SEATTLE — Records show that Broadway Market on Seattle’s Capitol Hill sold last week for $14.7 million.
That’s $7.3 million less than what Madison Marquette and CB Richard Ellis Investors bought the two-story mixed-use project at 401 E. Broadway for in 1999. It was not immediately clear if all or part the property was sold. Officials of Madison Marquette and the buyer, an LLC related to LaSalle Investment Management in Chicago, were not immediately available.
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We recently reported that Hot Topic was closing its Broadway Market store at the end of this month.
The shopping mall, which runs along Broadway’s west side between Harrison and Republican, has slowly transitioned into a space mainly centered on its major tenant, QFC. Meanwhile, retail in new development on north Broadway is finally getting a toehold as restaurants seem eager to take over the mixed-use space inside the neighboring Joule building.
No notice of the changes have been posted to http://www.shopbroadwaymarket.com/ which describes the market thusly:
Broadway Market is an urban, multi-faceted property centered around a popular mix of lifestyle retailers in one of Seattle’s most popular neighborhoods. A true urban shopping center, Broadway Market, features a 64,000 square foot QFC grocer and a mix of retailers, including Urban Outfitters and Gold’s Gym, two sit-down restaurants, a local coffee shop, and thirty apartment units in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The property is the hub of the vibrant Broadway retail corridor and is the largest retail center on Capitol Hill.
UPDATE: A rep from Madison Marquette passes on this announcement regarding the deal. According to the release, the company will continue to manage and lease the property — the investment firm LaSalle Investment Management is now a partner in the property:
MADISON MARQUETTE RECAPITALIZES BROADWAY MARKET WITH
LASALLE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT JOINT VENTURERetains Management and Leasing of 100,000 Square Foot Urban Center
SEATTLE, WA (March 28, 2010) – Madison Marquette announced today a joint venture with LaSalle Investment Management to recapitalize Broadway Market, a 108,000 square foot urban center in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington.
“Broadway Market has always been a high performing center as the surrounding Capitol Hill community continues to strengthen and grow,” said Eric Hohmann, Managing Director of Investments of Madison Marquette.
The center’s retail line-up includes Urban Outfitters, upscale grocer QFC and Gold’s Gym. The retail is contained on the first two stories of a 33-unit residential complex with garage parking for 223 vehicles. Madison Marquette will continue to manage and lease the center under the joint venture agreement. Madison Marquette and LaSalle Investment Management partnered on the development of Bay Street, a mixed use, urban village in Emeryville, California.
Broadway Market was developed in 1987 and first acquired by Madison Marquette in 1999. It is situated in one of the Pacific Northwest’s most densely populated neighborhoods. The primary trade area encompasses 385,000 people with average household income of $93,000. The population is also young, health-conscious and trendy.
“We are always reviewing opportunities to enhance the merchandising mix at Broadway Market,” said Richard Wolf, Senior Vice President of Leasing of Madison Marquette.
ABOUT MADISON MARQUETTE
Madison Marquette is a Washington, D.C.-based investor, developer and operator of retail and retail mixed-use real estate throughout the United States. The company specializes in creating unique retail destinations that respond best to consumer preferences. With regional offices in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Fort Lauderdale, Philadelphia, New York and Charlotte. Madison Marquette seeks investment opportunities in growing markets. The company maintains a sophisticated in-house operating capability and oversees 18 million square feet of retail real estate. This diverse national portfolio includes many properties that Madison Marquette manages and leases on behalf of third-party owners. For more information about the company, please visit http://www.madisonmarquette.com.
What coffee shop? The place that made bubble tea like two years ago?
yeah, noticed that too. I think they are talking about the walk-up that I never remember the name of that had kombucha tea and went out of business more than a year ago.
Perhaps the coffee stand w/in the QFC?
“The primary trade area encompasses 385,000 people with average household income of $93,000.”
I doubt anybody living in apartments around here make 90,000 a year!
That place seems to have been on the decline for years. The grocery store at least will always have business, even though it is one of the most poorly designed spaces I’ve ever been in. Doesn’t seem to have much room for customers. They pile the small isles with merch and have no room for people to line up at the cash registers with out blocking the whole front of the store. Anyway, that’s my peev. At least the workers are getting nicer.
I miss the theater and all the little stores that used to be in the main courtyard. Hope the video store can hang on better than the big video stores going out of business lately.
I appreciate having the shoe repair shop, as it is a nice service to have on the hill. Having said that, I wish they could something about their fumes. My choices for redevelopment wouldn’t be cheap, but might make sense long term. I would put in an escalator up from the northeast corner, running along Broadway with a much more open/skylighted space. This would require a total reconfigure of space for parts of Gold’s Gym and most, if not all of La Puerta. I would try and get some tenant upstairs that would be a neighborhood draw, something compatible with the current tenants. I think a Seattle Super Supplements would work well. Finally, I would probably buy out the leases of the gyro shop and handbag sales and utilize that space for the QFC Starbucks. Them that would open up more space in the front of QFC for expanded checkout capacity. I would take some of Urban Outfitters Space and move it to the second floor to maybe move the BECU space into Broadway frontage. Or, better yet, have BECU take over the space that Bank of America will vacate once the 230 Broadway project is complete.
If ANY of this comes to pass, I’ll be happy to take a 10% consulting fee.
I was thinking that too. Who makes $93K a year? Maybe that’s why I have neighbors who recently got nailed with a 25% rent increase on their apartments.
the QFC never has worked well. It’s a supermarket put into a space that was designed for multiple small shops. I miss those days.
I also miss the escalators that used to be all over the market. Now if you don’t do the stairs,or it’s late enough at night the door is locked, it takes a lifetime to get upstairs from the garage.
My quick google search shows a median household income of $58,707 and the median age is 37, average household size is 2.1 people.
Why move the QFC Starbucks to a space that can be used for a small shop or restaurant, when there’s a Starbucks directly across the street from that entrance? Otherwise I agree that QFC doesn’t flow very well. There are products upstairs that you would expect to see in the back portion of the main floor, and vise versa.
I also don’t think a Target is right for the space, even a Super Target or whatever they’re called. Their food selection is still too limited. We need a Fred Meyer, like the one in Ballard. Just not quite as big.
I just read the part of a trade area of 385,000. That is about 60% of Seattle’s population, which seems awfully broad. I just don’t see people in Laurelhurst driving by the UVillage QFC to shop at this one. As much as I malign the layout of the Broadway Market QFC, it is still better than the rathole it replaced. And as for the comments about a Target, I just don’t see thar happening anytime soon, especially seeing as they are putting one down on 2nd ave and Pike St.
I basically thought moving the Starbucks made sense to have more space in the front of the store. I think they could kill 2 birds with one stone if they consolidated both Starbucks in the Hot Topic space. I think Starbucks would benefit as well, they’d be on the ‘right’ side of the street for morning commuters going to work downtown.
Why don’t they just take up both spaces?
It is Starbucks after all
There are certain thoughts that I don’t like putting into the universe.
The income calc is counting houses in north cap hill too. And since it’s averaging “household income,” most couples/families are double income. Easy to reach that 93K average. Renters are a different story.
I see no point for the QFC Starbucks. There’s a bucks DIRECTLY across the street, TNT and Vivace down the block (and not to mention a Vivace up half a block)…that in-store Starbucks is a waste of space.
jerome: FYI: a fred meyer is exactly what USED to be in there, before the ‘mall’ was scraped for the QFC remodel. The downstairs & upstairs, in the back, of QFC, used to be the FM.
also-
The freezer aisle on the mid floor was a bookstore, the area by the mainfloor single elevator was a tiny sunglasses shop, and the main entrance more or less, was a place called the Gravity Bar, a juice/organics joint. There was also a zebra club, and a big diagonal tunnel/hallway entrance that came in where urbanoutfitters is now, with smaller shops (the names of which escape me) on the right (about where the QFC produce section is now). Golds gym was a quaint little multiscreen cinema.
And if you want to go even further back, the back corner where the dairy and eggs are used to be a housewares store, similar to Crate & Barrel, just noy as large nor as high end.
The Gap used to be right in front there as well.
The Starbucks inside the QFC is a licensed store. It is not owned or operated by Starbucks the company. Theoretically, licensed stores are not supposed to be located so close to Starbuck-owned stores (like the one directly across the street).
I miss the movie theater. And Metro Man. And Bulldog News.
it’s possible that this is a median/mean issue. cap hill income, as stated above, is almost certainly not a normal distribution, with a tail toward the upper end. it might skew numbers somewhat.
That’s the worst branch in a very bad food chain. Before Albertson’s bought it it was halfway decent– now, Whole Foods is cheaper.
The old market was better in just about every way. Not just because it had a movie theater, but because it was kind of a place for gay men to hang out when the weather was bad– sort of an indoor Castro St. No place to go now.
Whole Foods is cheaper? You must be kidding…it’s not called “whole wallet” for nothing!
I’ve gradually gotten used to the unconventional layout of the QFC. My main peev are the checkers, who are either taciturn/grumpy or compulsive talkers….either way, not very customer friendly in a real way.
Albertsons didn’t buy them, Kroger did.
The great majority of houses in the north capitol hill area are owned by people making far in excess of $93K per year. My kids went to school with a LOT of kids who live in those houses and on Federal, send their kids to Lakeside school ($25K per year for 5th grade), and live in the homes that are all nearly mansions. Their nannies make $60K, so 93K would be poor by their standards. Walk around north of Aloha from Federal to 22nd.
The SW corner on Broadway was the card/gift shop for many years. There were two food places, a Malaysian walk-up and a French bakery next to the Gap. I had forgotten about that bookstore! I think that space was later taken over by the liquor store, which is now across the street. Upstairs at the south end was the discount ticket place, and near the escalators was some sort of shop – candles or something, I never went in. And way back in the day the Pink Zone was upstairs, before it moved to Broadway.
…but I really like the layout of the QFC
It’s not normal, but you get used to it
The wine steward there is great.
Totally agree.
So much better than a big box.
I remember when this entire development was one giant Fred Meyer. In fact, I can remember buying stuff from the store closing sale before the giant FM was turned into the micro mall with a miniature FM in the back. A Seven Gables Cinema was the show piece of the top floor. This was a good thing as the the Broadway theater (Rite Aid) was on it’s way out of business. Still remember seeing She’s Gotta Have It and Hollywood Shuffle at the old place. Dang I’m old. Frankly, if you turned the whole place into a Target/Bed, Bath and Beyond, you’d have a bunch of whining and grumbling – and then a very successful business.
I’ve lived on Capitol Hill on and off (mostly on) for 12 years now, and I’d forgotten about when the Gap was there… crazy how long ago that seems now. (Thanks to Linder for reminding me!)
The building is very poorly laid out, but I think it’s charmingly weird the way it is. I sincerely hope that they don’t flatten it and make it a Target. Ugh. My memories of the good old days of the oxygen bar upstairs, the little CD-rack stores in the courtyard, the Fred Meyer, etc are very fond indeed. I hope they can keep it interesting…
Rasa Malaysia, The Gravity Bar, Bulldog News, Metroman ties, The Warehouse Music, Comfort by Akiko, A hair salon, The Broadway Theater, Hamburger Mary’s, Ticket/Ticket, An “oxygen” bar, a few carts selling jewelry and FIMO-wrapped hash pipes, GAP, The Red Balloon Company, An African-imports store, Blooms on Broadway, A massage “bar”, A candy shop with bulk Jelly bellys, Trendy Wendy, A condom store, A coffee bar..
I saw “honey I shrunk the kids” at that theater.
Broadway Market has done everything they can to make sure that no one succeeds in that space. Charge overbearing rents, tear it up to put a QFC that doesn’t belong.
A strange shopping experience is what shopping at Broadway Market QFC entails. What kind of crappy arrangement is it to have to take an elevator to do all your shopping? Broadway Market was just not the fit that QFC needed. They needed to build their own _one_ level store. If there had been any sense QFC would not have gone in there permanently and gone into the building that went up when they vacated the old building to make way for the “multi-use” building.