Da Li flips 2nd life sciences project site near Space Needle

Da Li Development USA acquistions on Fifth Avenue in Seattle, Washington
Da Li Development USA this week sold most of the Seattle block on the east side of Fifth Avenue North to LPC West and Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. The new owners are planning a life sciences tower. It's the second property in the neighborhood that Da Li sold to the partnership. Not included in the most recent sale is the former Fat City garage property at Fifth Avenue and Denny Way, which Da Li is buying and plans to keep.
Marcus R. Donner | PSBJ
Marc Stiles
By Marc Stiles – Senior Reporter, Puget Sound Business Journal

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The buyers are under construction on a life sciences project just up the street, where a McDonald's operated for decades.

If doubling your money once is nice, doing it twice is better.

That's Da Li Development USA LLC's experience in Seattle, where on Thursday it sold just over six-tenths of an acre near the Space Needle to LPC West and Intercontinental Real Estate Corp.

LPC West, the West Coast arm of Lincoln Property Co., and Intercontinental on Thursday announced the deal. They plan to develop a nine-story, 195,000-square-foot life sciences project.

The price was $42 million, according to the sales affidavit that King County posted Friday.

It's the same price that LPC and Intercontinental paid Da Li for a site a block to the north, where an eight-story, 188,000-square-foot life sciences project is under construction. A McDonald's operated on the property at 222 Fifth Ave. N. for decades.

Da Li, whose parent company is headquartered in Taiwan, acquired the McDonald's property in separate deals in 2018 and 2019, paying $18 million.

Late last year, Da Li assembled the parcels from 112 through 130 Fifth Ave. N. for $21.75 million.

Da Li Vice President of Development Kevin Hsieh said in an interview that LPC and Intercontinental approached him with an offer to buy the assemblage, which includes a now closed QED Coffee shop, some surface parking and two low-slung buildings, all under the Seattle monorail.

"We're happy we could double up again," Hsieh said.

Da Li Development USA acquistions on Fifth Avenue in Seattle, Washington
Da Li Development USA this week sold this property on the east side of Fifth Avenue North to a partnership, which is planning to build a life sciences project.
Marcus R. Donner | PSBJ

At the south end of the block, at the busy intersection of Fifth Avenue and Denny Way, is the longtime Fat City garage, which is now closed.

Da Li is under contract to buy that nearly one-third acre, having paid a nonrefundable deposit. Da Li has delayed the closing until June, said Hsieh, who added the company plans to build around 90,000 square feet of office space.

"We don't really want to give up everything there," said Hsieh, whose company's goal is to become a long-time player in Seattle.

Da Li has finished its first project, the 17-story Koda condo tower at Fifth Avenue South and South Main Street in the Chinatown International District.

Kitty-corner from the tower is where Da Li is partnering with Tomio Moriguchi, chairman emeritus of the Uwajimaya grocery chain, on a 28-story mixed-use apartment tower named for Moriguchi's father, Fujimatsu, who restarted the company in 1946, after the family was released from a World War II internment camp.

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