New leases surrounding Seattle’s waterfront show signs of a resilient retail market downtown. Kidder Mathews Vice President Jason Miller represented Equity Residential, owner of the Harbor Steps, in half a dozen new leases at the property. The four-building lifestyle center is located at 1221 First Avenue and comprises 758 apartment units, 55,000 square feet of retail space, and 35,000 square feet of office space.
New retail leases at Harbor Steps include:
- Skillet Diner, signed this month, opening later this year
- Mason’s Lobster Rolls (the first one in Washington State), opening soon
- Cassina, opening soon
- Linge Roset (relocated within the property), open now
- Taqueria Cantina, opened in 2021
Miller also represented Copperworks Distilling in signing a lease earlier this month to open a new 6,000-square-foot tasting room and cocktail bar expansion across the street from Harbor Steps at 51 University Avenue. The building is owned by Unico Properties.
Another notable tenant at Harbor Steps is Starbucks, which remodeled its location last year to become one of the company’s first “Pickup Stores” in the country. The property’s close proximity to Pike Place Market, Seattle’s Central Business District, and the West Edge neighborhood give it a great mix of tourist, residential, and office populations that drive retail and restaurant sales year-round.
“Places in and around Harbor Steps are outperforming the rest of the downtown market because of the diversity of the population,” said Miller. “It doesn’t strictly rely on workers coming to the office or locals frequenting their favorite shops and restaurants. It’s a mix that’s largely focused on heavy foot traffic driven by tourism.”
Other new leases near the water include Pendleton Woolen, which is returning to downtown with a location at Pine Street and Second Avenue July 1 after closing its Fourth Avenue store during the pandemic. The former Macy’s building is also expecting new tenants, with Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo filing plans to fill approximately 13,5000 square feet on the first floor.
The Harbor Steps sit at the “50-yard line” from Elliott Bay, where construction continues on Waterfront Seattle, a $756-million park promenade along the water. The inaugural piece of the project, Waterfront Park at Pier 62, opened in 2020. According to Waterfront Seattle’s website, construction has been delayed from its original projection of 2024 to 2025 due to a lack of concrete delivery availability as a result of a concrete strike in King County.
“We have front row seats to witness the waterfront develop its visionary transformation into a world-class tourist destination,” said Copperworks Co-founder and President Jason Parker. “We couldn’t be more fortunate to partner with Unico to expand our distillery’s customer experience in this historic landmark building in the center of it all.”
“Skillet is thrilled to be joining the thriving scene at Harbor Steps,” said Crellin Pauling, Skillet Group President. “There is much excitement around the downtown waterfront projects, and Harbor Steps being the primary connection between the pier and the iconic Pike Place Market feels like the natural center of the universe. Skillet will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner at this exceptional location to our beloved Seattleites and tourists of this beautiful city Skillet calls home.”
If you would like to arrange an interview, please contact Meili Cady at meili.cady@kidder.com. Interview opportunities include:
- Jason Parker, Copperworks Distilling Co-Founder and President
- Crellin Pauling, Skillet Group President
- Jason Miller, Kidder Mathews Vice President and retail specialist
- Connie Wing, Equity Residential Retail Portfolio Director
- Janel Jensen, Unico Properties Director of Leasing
About Kidder Mathews
Kidder Mathews is the largest independent commercial real estate firm on the West Coast, with 900 real estate professionals and staff in 21 offices in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Arizona. Kidder Mathews offers a complete range of brokerage, appraisal, asset services, consulting, project and construction management, and debt & equity finance services for all property types. The firm performs $10.9 billion in transactions, manages 62 million square feet of space, and conducts over 2,600 appraisals annually. For more information, visit kidder.com.
