February 3, 2026

Where a McDonald's once stood, life-sci building 222 Fifth has new owner

Photo via Lease Crutcher Lewis [enlarge]

222 Fifth replaced a McDonald’s just east of Seattle Center.

The fairly new 222 Fifth life-science building sold this week for $50 million, according to King County records.

The county assesses 222 Fifth, which replaced a McDonald's just east of Seattle Center, at about $166.8 million.

The sellers, via an LLC, were original developers LPC West and Intercontinental Real Estate. They acquired the land, with life-science permits nearly in place, in 2021 for $42 million. Construction began the following year. The 198,000-square-foot lab and office building was completed in late 2024, with tenants slowly following.

The buyer at 222 Fifth Ave. N. was 32Fifth LLC. That's an entity of 3Edgewood (aka 3E), a private Arizona investment firm that's new to our market. Per its website, 3Edgewood “invests across real estate sectors and exploits opportunities when others are fearful, with a current focus on out-of-favor, high-quality office properties that meet our established location criteria.”

Founded by Robert Sarver, the firm launched three years ago, following his 2022 sale of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury teams for a reported $4 billion. (He was the majority owner of both, with partners.) Since then, 3E has made splashy investments in Dallas, Houston, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Brokers, if any, were not announced. CBRE is the leasing agent, with current occupancy unknown at 222 Fifth.

3Edgewood says it has about $1 billion under management. It buys both real estate and the loans supporting such projects. As of deadline Monday, there's no sign of a new loan to 3E. Left to question is whether it has purchased the prior construction loan to LPC West and Continental. That money was supplied by Citizens Bank in 2022, but county records don't show the amount.

If 3E is new to our market, Sarver is not. While the DJC traditionally ignores single-family home sales, a Sarver-related LLC paid $25 million last October for a waterfront mansion on the north tip of Mercer Island.

Overlooking the monorail, the nine-story 222 Fifth is LEED Gold certified. Gensler was the architect, and Lease Crutcher Lewis the builder.

A few steps south, on the corner of John Street, LPC and Intercontinental have a master use permit for a second nine-story, 197,000-square-foot lab and office building. There's been some minor demo there. That project isn't publicly listed for sale.