James & Hastings Building

Property Overview

The James & Hastings Building is a 14,130 SF historic mixed-use property located at the corner of Water Street in downtown Port Townsend, Washington. Built in 1889, the Victorian-era structure houses a combination of retail and residential tenants and sits within a designated Opportunity Zone on Port Townsend's central commercial corridor.

Challenge

Our team was engaged to market and sell a historic, income-producing mixed-use building in a small coastal market. The property carried genuine complexity: ten apartment units alongside multiple retail tenants, a Victorian-era structure requiring a buyer comfortable with older construction, and a seller who needed to complete a 1031 exchange. Finding a buyer who could also deploy 1031 exchange proceeds into this specific asset type, in this specific market, added another layer to an already nuanced transaction.

Action

We co-brokered the transaction alongside a Kidder Mathews multifamily broker, combining retail investment expertise with multifamily knowledge to present the property accurately to the broadest qualified audience. The marketing emphasized the building's durable tenant base — three of the ten apartment residents had occupied their units for five or more years, and four of the retail tenants had been in place for ten or more years — as well as the property's Opportunity Zone designation, its corner visibility on Port Townsend's main commercial corridor, and the potential for 25% down financing. We positioned the asset for buyers seeking a pride-of-ownership, low-management investment with stable in-place income.

Result

• Sold the James & Hastings Building for $2,835,000, or $201 per SF
• Successfully structured the transaction to accommodate a 1031 exchange for both the buyer and the seller
• Completed the sale of a 135-year-old mixed-use asset in a specialized coastal market with a long-tenured, stable tenant roster