Handsome Seattle building sells for a handsome profit

Enlarge Photo

City of Seattle photo

The Grand Central Building in Pioneer Square sold for around $16.5 million on Nov. 12.

Marc Stiles

Staff Writer- Puget Sound Business Journal

Email  |  Twitter

The historic Grand Central building that played a role in the Klondike Gold Rush sold Wednesday for around $5 million more than it sold for 13 months ago, according to public records.

Unico Properties bought the Pioneer Square building at 216 First Ave. S. from Goodman Real Estate. The preliminary price listed in online records was just shy of $16.5 million. That's 43 percent higher than what Goodman paid for the nearly 72,500-square-foot brick building.

Built as an office building just after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, it was converted to a hotel during the 1897 gold rush to accommodate the flood of people coming to Seattle en route to the Yukon. Today the building is home to the Grand Central Bakery and office tenants.

Even before it was built, a writer for the Seattle Post-Intelligener said it "will be one of the largest and handsomest blocks in the city."

This is the third time in recent years that Goodman has bought or sold the property. Goodman sold it and three other Pioneer Square buildings in 2007 for $53 million. The buyer lost the properties, and three of them were sold for $19.1 million to a Canadian investment adviser. Goodman bought the Grand Central from the Canadian company for $11.5 million in October 2013, and sold it again Wednesday.

Marc Stiles covers commercial real estate and government for the Puget Sound Business Journal.