Broadcast House, longtime home of KIRO 7 and KIRO radio, is being sold to a San Mateo, Ca., apartment investment and development real estate trust, Essex Property Trust. Broadcast House at 3rd and Broad opened in 1968. KOMO TV/radio studios, across from the Seattle Center, were torn down years ago to make way for Fisher Plaza, now known as KOMO Plaza. KING Broadcasting studios on Dexter were next, now the KIRO building. The price on this deal, $52.5 Million, sold by a subsidiary of Cox Media. Cox sold KIRO to Apollo Global Management, in a deal that closed last December. No word on what plans the new company has for the property.
KIRO 7 can remain at Broadcast House until 2029.
From the looks of the Essex portfolio (and I don’t mean Porter), I’d say the days are numbered for Broadcast House. It would be a shame to see it torn down as it is one of those buildings meant as a real showcase of television and radio, a form that we aren’t going to see again. It was designed by Fred Bassetti, who is probably best known for the Jackson Federal Building. He was also the architect for the KGW Broadcast Center in Portland, a similar structure built a few years before KIRO.
All the local stations in Seattle are now renters. Wonder if they will stiff their landlords during Covid. 😉
Things have changed so radically from the radio/TV days of the 80s when I was a teen. I guess it makes it easier to say goodbye to the past and move on.
I wonder if Bill Yeend has gotten word of this?