CenterPoint Corporate Park

Specialty: Class A suburban office space
General manager: Jack Rader
Year opened: 1999
Location: Kent
Biggest deal in 2001: Signed lease with Alaska Airlines for 40,000 square feet


Cascade West building
Photo courtesy of CenterPoint
The Cascade West building is one of eight that make up CenterPoint Corporate Park in Kent.

Jack Rader doesn’t mince words when describing what happened to the South End office market during the fourth quarter of 2001.

“A truck ran over it,” says Rader. “A big truck.”

Rader is general manager of CenterPoint Corporate Park in Kent. With 763,000 square feet of newly renovated office space located in eight buildings, the former Boeing Space Center East complex is a bellwether for the South End market.

Rader says last year began as a continuation of 2000. “I wouldn’t say it was hot, but it was a good market,” he says. Although demand subsequently slowed, the hope was that fall would bring renewed activity.

“Then 9-11 hit and blew everything out of the water,” says Rader. “That was the end of deals. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were no (major) deals done. We didn’t even have a showing after Sept. 11. It was bone dry.”

Rader says he’s still waiting for final fourth quarter numbers, but he estimates the South End vacancy rate at 13 percent. At CenterPoint, which began signing leases in January 2000, about 270,000 square feet remains available.

As 2002 unfolds, the market finally is starting to stir again, says Rader, noting he’s currently negotiating a handful of small deals. The key to attracting tenants in today’s market is to be creative and aggressive, he says.

“You’ve got to keep your brokers focused,” says Rader. “That’s hard to do in a market like this where they’re looking all over the place for deals. But you can’t be complacent. It’s the kiss of death.”

Rader says CenterPoint had considered raising rates in 2001 from $17 a square foot (triple net) to $18, but decided to hold off. “It’s a good thing we didn’t because we would have had egg all over our face.”

This year, CenterPoint went a step farther. Instead of merely holding the line on rates, it trimmed them to $16. “It just isn’t a $17 market right now,” says Rader.

If the 2002 passes without new acts of terrorism and the economy regains its footing, Rader expects 2003 to be “a really good year with 3 or 4 percent growth.”

The wild card in that scenario is Boeing, says Rader. He says the company definitely will be returning some space to the market. The question is how much. Will it be 200,000 square feet or 600,000?

“Boeing won’t say and we don’t know,” says Rader.



Copyright ©1995-2002 Seattle Daily Journal and DJC.COM.
Comments? Questions? Contact us.