HAL Sells Triton Tower

An entity related to HAL Real Estate Investments sold Triton Towers, a three-building office complex at the intersection of Interstate 405 and state Route 167 in Renton, for $59.96 million, property records show.

The buyer is an LLC called Triton Towers Acquisition Partners. More information about the company was not available in public records.

Triton Towers has three seven-story buildings totaling 397,500 square feet. Tenants include The Boeing Co.

The buildings, formerly known as Renton Place, were nearly vacant in 2005. According to Triton Towers' website, buildings one and three each have about 20,000 square available.

HAL bought Triton Towers in 2001 from Unico Properties as part of an eight-building, $83.2 million transaction.

Dargey Buys Belltown Land

Everett developer Lobsang Dargey is planning his first project in Seattle.

An entity related to Dargey bought a .3-acre site on Fourth Avenue between Blanchard and Lenora streets from an entity related to HAL Real Estate Investments for $11.5 million, property records show.

Dargey is president of Path America, a development company that finances projects through the EB-5 program, which allows people to obtain permanent visas and a path to citizenship if they invest in a qualifying real estate project.

Dargey said he is planning a mixed-use project on the site but would not release any further details

Developers find fertile ground for apartments in Columbia City

After one meeting with the Columbia City Business Association, Joe Fugere knew this was the place for him.

Fugere grew up on Beacon Hill and has deep ties to South Seattle. He had more than 20 years of experience in the restaurant industry, and he was looking for the right spot to open a pizza place. Some people told him to stay away from Columbia City, which was still struggling with a bad reputation, but Fugere saw the tide turning. Residents and business owners were pulling together to turn things around, and he wanted to be a part of that.

On Jan. 2, 2004, Fugere opened Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria, and the line of customers soon stretched down the block, he said.

“There was always a really big soul here,” Fugere said. “It just had to be nurtured.”

His success in Columbia City nurtured Fugere, who is preparing to open his fifth location: at Crossroads Mall in Bellevue.

The business community gets a lot of credit for the neighborhood's resurgence. The efforts go back to 1978, when Columbia City became a landmark historic district. Today the Columbia City Business Association has more than 110 dues-paying members, and more than half of them show up at most meetings.

Columbia City Site Sells for $7.18M

An entity related to Security Properties paid $7.18 million for 1.5 acres in Columbia City where it plans to develop a 193-unit apartment complex called The Angeline, which will also have a PCC market.

Security Properties bought the land from HAL Real Estate, which had previously planned to build the complex at 4801 Rainier Ave. S.

HAL has owned the land since 2007, when it bought the parcel from Susan Sandelman for $6.62 million.

Polyclinic Moves in at 7th and Madison

Polyclinic officials said they have finished the six-week process of moving a number of physicians and services from First Hill into Madison Center, its new nine-story building at Seventh and Madison, overlooking Interstate 5. The clinic has signs on the south and west side of the building. Polyclinic has doubled in size in seven years, with clinics in north and south Seattle, and near South Lake Union as well as First Hill. It employs about 200 health care providers. Officials said the real estate crash in 2008 provided an opportunity to partner with HAL Investments and get the empty 205,000-square-foot building for about half of what it cost to build. Polyclinic Executive Director Lloyd David said this was “the least costly and least risky facility solution that we could have found.” Patients will go directly to providers' offices rather than a central check-in. Imaging services such as MRI, CT scans and a new tomosynthesis 3D breast screening machine are available at Madison Center. Polyclinic Broadway still will house several medical practices and services, including endoscopy, breast imaging and the Ambulatory Surgery Center. Neighborhood clinics are not affected by the change.