March 12, 2025
A two-building Interbay complex, then home to AAA and Staples, last traded for $11.6 million in 2018. That property at 1523 15th Ave. W. has been vacant for the past few years. Now owner Sterling Organization, of Florida, is contemplating a much larger replacement project. The seven-story proposal was filed last week, with Clark Barnes as the architect.
The two existing 47-year-old buildings have about 50,660 square feet. The 1.8-acre property was, at the time of the last sale, zoned up to 45 feet. It’s since been rezoned to a much more attractive 85 feet.
The new plan totals about 434,811 square feet, and carries a nominal value of over $104 million. Construction would be Type I-B concrete.
The proposal calls for ground-floor manufacturing use and parking; a second level of structured parking; then five floors for research and design firms. It looks to be a speculative building. Design review isn’t required for such projects in the BINMIC, aka the Ballard Interbay Northend Manufacturing and Industrial Center.
Privately held Sterling is primarily a retail and logistics investor, with about $2 billion in assets under management. It owns some 75 properties with 13 million square feet. The firm isn’t known as a developer, so a partnership or sale is certainly possible.
The site is on a triangle also bounded by the Magnolia Bridge, railroad tracks and West Galer Street Flyover, which leads to Smith Cove and its cruise ship piers. Interbay being Interbay, the Sterling site is also polluted. The state Department of Ecology hasn’t issued a determination of no further action (NFA).
There was an oil tank farm there from 1927 into the 1970s, per Ecology. Those were eventually removed, but not the affected soils — which can probably be left in place, if undisturbed. The buildings were developed for Grantree Furniture, and later housed an indoor mini-golf facility. Samis Land Co. once owned the property, then sold in the early 1990s to a Canadian investor.
Brian Miller can be reached by email at brian.miller@djc.com or by phone at (206) 219-6517.
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