By Staff
Northwest Asian Weekly
Seattle has the Space Needle and the Smith Tower, the city’s guaranteed architectural treasures. But the building that is hard to overlook? That would be the tallest building in Seattle: Columbia Center, the city’s monolithic building at 76 stories high—and it is also the tallest building in the state of Washington.
There is a recent pending agreement that Columbia Center will be purchased by Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners for a reported $725 million, according to trade publication Real Estate Alert. The building is currently owned by Beacon Capital; the company paid $621 million in 2007 according to Seattle Times archives.
Gaw Capital Partners owns 64 properties, including 19 in the United States. The company was co-founded by Goodwin Gaw and Kenneth Gaw and they have invested in the U.S. since the 1990s, according to its website.
The company also states on its website:
“Gaw Capital Partners is a uniquely positioned private equity fund management company that focuses on global real estate markets. Specializing in adding strategic value to under-utilized real estate through redesign and re-positioning, the company has seized the windows of opportunity presented in the current real estate markets to achieve significant results in property investments and development projects covering the entire spectrum of real estate sectors, including residential development, commercial offices, retail malls, serviced apartments, and hotels.”
The company also recently acquired a Vietnam real estate portfolio which includes buildings in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang. In the U.S. their portfolio includes buildings in San Francisco. New York, Chicago, among others. Most of their current holdings are based in Hong Kong and mainland China. (end)
Staff can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.