Seattle CBD Vacancy to Increase by +4%

By the end of March, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it will vacate all of the office space that the bank currently occupies in Seattle except for 600,000 square feet in WaMu Center. The result will be approxiatlly 1,000,000 square feet of office space coming on the market.


Image Courtesy of CoStar

The firm inherited approximately 1.6 million square feet of office lease obligations when it acquired WaMu. According to the DJC, "The office space is no longer needed because the firm will lay off 1,500 of its 4,200 employees in Seattle by the end of January. It will retain 1,900 employees at double salary during a transition period... By the end of 2009, JPMorgan will have 800 employees downtown, and will likely then lease or sell some of its space in WaMu Center."

JPMorgan Chase owns 600,000 square feet in the 944,000-square-foot WaMu Center. Landlords of the other buildings Washington Mutual will be vacating may not get paid much for the unexpired term because WaMu is in receivership, the responsibility for those leases go to the FDIC and it is save to assume that the government will offer itself "favorable" terms of any assumed lease or lease buyout.