Central Building

Meriwether acquired the Central Building in October 2005. The 7-story office building is located in downtown Seattle and was 65% leased at the time of acquisition. The property was not well managed, showed poorly, and suffered from poor tenant relations. The investment was predicated on buying a well-located building at a fraction of replacement cost in a rising office market. We immediately brought in a new, third-party on-site management team, re-bid all vendor contracts, significantly lowered operating costs, implemented a new tenant relations program, and made significant upgrades to the common areas. With the building looking and operating better, Meriwether aggressively marketed the available space and, within 12 months of closing, increased occupancy to over 98%. Meriwether sold the Cental Building in August 2007 to an institutional investor for $43.1 million generating an IRR of 81.5% and a 2.9x equity multiple.