The Lightstone Group has purchased The Outlet Collection Seattle, a 919,446-square-foot shopping center in Auburn, Wash., for $82 million. Washington Prime Group sold the regional retail destination in a transaction brokered by CBRE.
Lightstone intends to invest $10 million in capital improvements and tenant upgrades, as reported by Shopping Center Business. FFO Real Estate Advisors will oversee outlet leasing, while Spinoso Real Estate Group will handle leasing for big-box stores and mall tenants.
WPG had acquired the property back in 1995, according to CommercialEdge data. Formerly known as SuperMall of the Great Northwest, the shopping center came online in 1995 and was rebranded as The Outlet Collection Seattle in 2012.
Anchored by Burlington, Nordstrom Rack, Dave & Busters and FieldhouseUSA, the mall features a diverse mix of regional and national retailers such as Adidas Outlet Store, Ashley HomeStore, American Eagle, Best Buy Outlet, Claire’s, Coach, Columbia’s, H&M, GAP, Famous Footwear, Nike and Vans, among others. At the time of sale, the property was 98 percent leased.
The Outlet Collection Seattle occupies some 90 acres at 1101 Outlet Collection Way, near the intersection of highways 18 and 167. The mall has roughly 4.9 million visits per year.
CBRE Senior Vice President Dino Christophilis and Senior Associate Daniel Tibeau, together with Executive Vice Presidents Richard Frolik and George Good, led the team that brokered the transaction on behalf of the seller.
Last month, WPG sold Waterford Lakes Town Center, a 976,000-square-foot grocery-anchored lifestyle center in Orlando, Fla., for $322 million. Kimco Realty purchased the signature asset.
Seattle’s stable retail market
Seattle’s retail market has seen a significant investment uptick in 2024, with nearly $1 billion in transactions across 215 sales year-to-date through September, according to a Kidder Mathews report. This marks a 40 percent increase compared to the first three quarters of last year. Additionally, more neighborhood centers changed hands this year.
The market’s vacancy rates remained low and stable, with a direct vacancy rate of 3.0 percent at the end of September. The value was the lowest on the West Coast and among the lowest in the nation, the report showed.
This story originally appeared on Commercial Property Executive.
