Seattle developer buys former Safeway property in Bellevue

A large swath of underdeveloped land near downtown Bellevue has a buyer.

Wright Runstad & Co. of Seattle said it signed a contract this week to buy the 36-acre property near Interstate 405 and state Route 520 from Safeway.

Wright Runstad President Greg Johnson declined to say how much the company paid. He said he plans to eventually turn it into offices or a mix of residential and commercial buildings, as long as Bellevue changes the zoning from light industrial.

Safeway, which used the property for more than 30 years as a distribution center, put it up for sale in early summer. The property includes about 700,000 square feet of warehouses that Wright Runstad plans to fill until the zoning change. Safeway has moved its distribution center to a former Boeing site in Auburn.

Wright Runstad bought the Bellevue property with Shorenstein Properties of San Francisco. The two firms previously bought the Seattle Trade & Technology Center, home to RealNetworks, for $107.5(million.

There is been some speculation that the Seattle SuperSonics basketball team had hoped to buy the Bellevue property for a new arena. Johnson left open the possibility of selling part of the 36-acre property to the SuperSonics.

"We'd like to know what their needs are," Johnson said.

Amy Martinez: 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com