PUGET SOUND, WA – Panattoni Development Co., one of the Puget Sound region’s most active developers of industrial space, has inked a major deal with MetLife.
The global insurance company is investing in the development of three warehouse projects in the region, said Bart Brynstead, who heads Panattoni’s operations in Seattle. Based on the size of the projects, the total development cost of the projects is around $180 million.
To boost the amount of industrial space in its portfolio, MetLife is teaming up with Newport Beach, Calif.-headquartered Panattoni on eight projects around the country, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. In addition to Seattle, the projects are in Atlanta, Chicago and California’s Inland Empire.
The largest Seattle project is the Des Moines Creek Business Park, an 87-acre development just south of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The ultimate buildout is 1.6 million square feet of space. The first phase will have three buildings totaling 535,000 square feet, and construction is starting Monday, Brynestad said. The Sumner projects are the 159,000-square-foot Tamarack and the 206,000-square-foot Steele buildings.
The Wall Street Journal reported that industrial space represents around 3 percent of MetLife’s real estate portfolio. The company wants to increase that to around 10 percent, a MetLife official told the paper.
Panattoni is building 12 industrial projects totaling 2.5 million square feet between Sumner and Everett, Brynestad said.
