SEATTLE - It's another sign of boom-town Seattle: a university is moving after the property sold for millions this week.
Antioch University Seattle announced Thursday that it has completed the sale of its 6th and Battery property to HB Management, a private Seattle real estate company. Antioch purchased the property in October 1996 for $3.8 million. It sold Wednesday for $26.5 million. A proposal now has two twin towers taking the university's place here.
"We want to invest some of that money into new programs and new program development that's consistent with our location, so we're thinking healthcare management, tech, leadership," said Antioch University Seattle President Dan Hocoy. "Those new programs really require and investment of funds to develop."
The university isn't moving far: just three blocks to the corner of 3rd Avenue and Battery.
"On one hand - it's kind of exciting. We're moving to a new building. It's going to be new. Lots of windows so really pretty new space," said Library Director Beverly Stuart, who's been here about a decade. "On the other hand we're a little nervous because we're moving to a smaller space than what we already have. It just means we're going to have to work a little differently."
The building will be on a smaller footprint and will stand three stories tall. Antioch will lease its new space. Hocoy said a survey revealed students wanted to stay near the downtown core close to public transit.
"We really like the idea that this will only be three stories given what's happening in downtown Seattle," Dan Hocoy said. "It's a smaller footprint, but we'll have a chance to design it to optimize that space."
The university, a private non-profit with about 800 students enrolled, expects to move late next 2016.
