Silverstein Capital Partners (SCP), Silverstein Properties’ real estate lending platform, closed on a $700 million construction loan on Avenue Bellevue, a 1.1 million-square-foot mixed-use project in Washington State. The deal marks SCP’s first construction financing loan on the West Coast.
Avenue Bellevue combines the first InterContinental Hotels & Resorts in the Pacific Northwest, 365 residential condominiums spanning two towers, and 73,000 square feet of retail and fine dining.
Regarded as one of the premier urban office, retail, and residential markets on the West Coast, Bellevue boasts a highly educated workforce, stunning physical environment with water and mountain views, and diversified employment base. The new development is located near the Bellevue downtown station of the new East Link Extension, the Seattle to Redmond light rail line scheduled to open in 2023.
“We are excited about the opportunity to continue expanding our lending platform and development expertise to Bellevue and other cities across the United States,” said Marty Burger, Chief Executive Officer of Silverstein Properties. “Since we launched in 2018, Silverstein Capital Partners has far exceeded our expectations.”
Excavation of Avenue Bellevue began in January 2020, with completion slated for 2023. The development team is led by Fortress Development, Weber Thompson as design architect, and JTM Construction as construction manager.
“We are creating something that will set a new standard for hospitality and residential design in the region,” said Andy Lakha, principal and CEO of Fortress Development. “As a Bellevue resident for more than 20 years, I am deeply committed to the future success of the community and Avenue Bellevue is my most important project. Silverstein’s history of developing large-scale mixed-use projects makes them the perfect lender to complete my vision of adding Avenue to the skyline of Downtown Bellevue.”
Silverstein Properties partnered with two global institutional investors to establish SCP, which focuses on providing a variety of loan types and rescue capital to borrowers on shovel-ready, ground-up construction and value-add repositioning. Since its inception in 2018, SCP has grown to more than $2.0 billion in assets under management and underwritten over $50 billion of loans.
“Our borrowers benefit from SCP’s significant flexibility, financial capacity, and Silverstein’s unparalleled development expertise,” said Michael May, President of SCP. “We are focused on expanding our lending platform to growing markets throughout the country.”
Silverstein Properties, a New York-based firm, continues its ongoing expansion to the West Coast with this financing. In July 2020, Silverstein Properties closed on the development site at 801 Blanchard Street in Downtown Seattle, adjacent to Amazon’s global headquarters. Last September, the firm closed on the acquisition of U.S. Bank Tower, a 1.4 million square foot trophy office building in Downtown Los Angeles. In March 2021, the firm broke ground on Apex@Meadows, a multi-family development in Las Vegas.
“SCP likes being involved in large-scale, mixed-use construction projects consistent with many of Silverstein Properties’ developments,” said Shawn Katz, Senior Managing Director of SCP. “We believe that Avenue Bellevue will be the premier residential, hotel, and retail project in an incredibly attractive market.”
The transaction was brokered by Dave Karson, Chris Moyer, Alex Lapidus and Emily Johansen of Cushman & Wakefield.
