Large SoDo landowner pays $17M for parcel near Safeco Field

Henry Liebman, SoDo's largest landowner, has acquired another property.

An affiliate of his company American Life bought a full-block parking lot just southwest of Safeco Field from Gull Industries Thursday for $17.76 million, according to county records.

American Life already has a land-use permit from the city for two mid-rise office buildings with ground-floor retail on the block. It has applied for a building permit for one of those buildings, which would be built at the north end of the two-acre property, at First Avenue South and South Atlantic Street.

But Liebman demurred Thursday when asked whether construction would start once the permit is in hand.

"If it looks like it does today, maybe you'd want to wait," he said, referring to the dismal market for office landlords in greater downtown.

Financing isn't an issue, Liebman added. As with his other acquisitions in SoDo, he has used an obscure federal program that offers green cards to foreign investors when they make job-creating investments.

American Life and its affiliates own more than 40 acres in SoDo.

The block it bought Thursday is bounded by First, Atlantic,.Utah Avenue South and South Massachusetts Street. The building Liebman plans to build first would be seven stories, with 144,000 square feet of office space and 21,000 square feet of retail.

At least some of that retail probably would be stadium-oriented, Liebman said: home plate is just across the street.

Eric Pryne: 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com