Kevin Daniels’ 48-story tower under construction at 801 Fifth Ave. has a big new tenant — and a new name.
F5 Networks announced Wednesday it will lease all 516,000 square feet of office space in the project, which has been known as The Mark. The new name is F5 Tower.
Construction is expected to wrap up this year, and F5 said it will move to its new headquarters in early 2019.
In a statement, F5 CFO Andy Reinland said, “Our move to F5 Tower will provide current and future F5 employees with an iconic, modern corporate headquarters that aligns with our growth as a company and showcases our significant place in Seattle’s technology industry. The new space will provide a dynamic work environment that will help attract top talent, while giving us room for continued growth.”
F5 Tower was developed by Daniels Real Estate and financial partner Stockbridge Capital Group. ZGF Architects designed it, and JTM Construction is the general contractor. Construction began in 2014, and the 660-foot building topped out last October.
Stuart Williams and Joe Gowan at JLL represented Stockbridge and Daniels. Craig Kinzer of Kinzer Partners represented F5. Terms of the lease weren’t announced.
F5 Tower is a mixed-use project that will also have a luxury hotel, retail space, conference rooms, a spa and a restaurant created by James Beard Award-winning chef Jose Andres.
The 189-room SLS Seattle hotel, designed by Phillipe Starck, will be on floors three through 15. The office space will be on floors 20 through 48. Six levels of underground parking will accommodate hundreds of vehicles.
In a statement, Kevin Daniels said, “F5 Tower represents the next level of Class A office space in Seattle. Its innovation is rooted in the connection to the historic sanctuary building, formerly the First United Methodist Church. The church was started by pioneering families who have left their mark on Seattle. I couldn’t be more pleased that a Seattle-based world leader in technology has agreed to lease the full tower. It certainly is full circle for the historic site, now the home of F5 Tower.”
F5 was founded in 1996, and went public in 1999. It has a market capitalization of about $8 billion, though the stock dipped slightly following last month’s second-quarter financial results. F5 recently hired a new CEO, Francois Locoh-Donou, after the resignation of Manny Rivelo for what the company said were “personal conduct” issues.
F5 now has about 4,400 employees. Most are at its present headquarters location in Elliott West, at 351, 401 and 501 Elliott Ave. W. F5 also has a San Jose office.
The Elliott West waterfront campus now has about 300,000 square feet. It was developed in 2000 by Koehler & Co., and F5 was the original tenant in one building. Two more buildings were subsequently added for F5.
Elliott West is owned by Phoenix-based Cole Real Estate Investments, which paid $142.5 million for it in 2013. That was three years after F5 re-upped its lease through July 2022.
In a 2010 press release, F5 said it had “the right to occupy or sublease up to approximately 300,000 square feet of office space in the Elliott West project.”
It’s not known who will represent the Elliott West space for F5 or Cole.