The Challenge
In 2016, Intel was refocusing its business approach and in doing so, needed to make substantial cuts in certain sectors – the Seattle office being one of them.
• They occupied 50,000 feet (2 floors) at 705 Union Station.
• They only had two years left of term. At that size and term length, a very difficult task.
• Intel also needed to keep a small Seattle presence. Subleasing out their space, while finding a new, smaller location was our task.
Strategy
• ST3 was on the voting blocks at the time and we knew if it passed that Sound Transit would have a healthy appetite for additional space to help staff up for their future projects.
• We reached out to their representatives to tour them through the space and negotiated a deal for them to take it off our hands if/when ST3 passed.
• During that 30-day interim, we tracked the vote and while it seemed likely to pass, continued to market it to other groups – most of whom had interest in only a single floor.
• We also lined up leases for Intel at another building downtown and negotiated leases, ready to sign if/when ST3 passed
Results
• Intel got out of the sublease at zero loss – almost unheard of for a sublease, let alone one of this size and term length.
• We negotiated a new lease at Fourth & Madison and had the space ready for them so that there was zero down time between leaving their original space and occupying the new space.
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