Seattle & Northwest + Seattle + Office | March 4, 2021

Seattle Looks to Strongest Office Tenant Market in Decades

In all likelihood, 2020 was a warm-up for the 2021 commercial real estate office sector. It would be reasonable to assume that by the end of 2021, availability rates in all Seattle-area office markets will range from 15 to 25 percent and downtown Seattle will be well north of 30 percent, according to roundtable participants who recently took a deep dive into the Greater Seattle/Bellevue CRE marketplace.

The experts said this will be the strongest tenant market in more than two decades. Free rent and tenant improvement allowances are going up, and landlords are offering tenant relocation allowances, according to Owen Rice, vice president of Hughes Marino.

And, with change comes innovation.

“We can expect landlords and tenants to keep the employee experience at the forefront of their minds as people transition back to the office,” said Maverick Olivares, vice president of Broderick Group.

The roundtable featured insights from Seattle-area CRE firms including Hughes Marino, Savills, Broderick Group, SECO, CoStar, WeWork and the hosts from ExtraSlice, a corporate real estate technology and flexible workspace platform.

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About Lisa Brown

Lisa Brown has decades of experience in corporate communications and marketing management with organizations including Coldwell Banker Residential, Grubb & Ellis, Marcus & Millichap, NAIOP, SIOR and ALM. In those positions, she worked in conjunction with chief executive officers and chief marketing officers to create corporate messaging, cohesive branding standards, strategic marketing plans and thought pieces. Brown is a frequent speaker at industry events and an editing adjunct professor for an online course. She has a master’s degree in mass communications from San Jose State University.

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