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Real Estate



Brian Miller
Real Estate Editor
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February 13, 2025

On The Block: City still flummoxed by former KCTS building at Seattle Center

As the DJC reported in the fall of 2023, with longtime tenant KCTS/Cascade Public Media then poised to depart for new digs on First Hill, the city began mulling the fate of its 401 Mercer St. building, aka the Fifth and Mercer Block. (That's on the northeast corner of the city-owned Seattle Center campus.) Brokers were then solicited to find new tenants for the 39-year-old office and TV studio building. That leasing effort led to naught.

Instead, 401 Mercer is now being leased on an interim basis to the city's own Office of Economic Development. It's also been rebranded as the M5 Creative Building. TV production crews are encouraged to rent the studios, on a daily or weekly basis, below the offices. In theory, the city-to-city lease ends in March, but could easily be extended. (Seattle Center is chartered to make a profit, as it does by collecting rents from Climate Pledge Arena, SIFF, KEXP, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Rep, food vendors at the Armory, etc.)


 
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