Robert Sarver’s 3Edgewood Acquires 222 Fifth From Intercontinental Real Estate
A real estate firm established by former NBA team owner Robert Sarver to capitalize on discounted office assets has completed its first acquisition in Seattle, purchasing a 10-story life science building located just east of Seattle Center.
Phoenix-based 3Edgewood acquired 222 Fifth, a nearly 200,000-square-foot property near the Space Needle, for $50 million from Intercontinental Real Estate. The seller developed the building in partnership with Lincoln Property Co., with the project delivering in 2024.
According to documents filed with King County, the transaction price for the largely vacant building at 210–222 Fifth Ave. North represents a steep discount compared with its assessed value of $172 million.
It remains unclear whether 3Edgewood assumed the construction loan issued by Citizens Bank in 2022 to finance the development. Founded in 2023, 3Edgewood is led by Sarver, a longtime real estate investor and former owner of the Phoenix Suns. The firm did not respond to requests for comment.
The sale of the Gensler-designed building comes as Seattle continues to grapple with an oversupply of newly delivered life science space. In recent years, construction aimed at attracting biotech tenants has significantly outpaced leasing demand, despite the sector’s long-standing importance to the region’s office market.
At the end of 2025, Seattle’s vacancy rate for laboratory and research space stood at 21.2%, slightly below the 23% national average across the top 13 U.S. biotech markets, according to CBRE’s latest life science report.
Improved venture capital funding for life science companies in Seattle and nationwide during the second half of last year may help support stronger lab leasing activity in 2026, according to a recent Cushman & Wakefield report. However, the report notes that U.S. life science real estate markets remain in an extended period of adjustment.
Several biotech users have taken space at 222 Fifth over the past year, including Seattle-based nonprofit Access to Advanced Health Institute, which moved into coworking lab facilities within the building. Even so, the property remains approximately 84% vacant, according to CoStar data.
Beyond Seattle, 3Edgewood has continued to expand its national footprint, acquiring prominent office properties in markets such as Dallas, Houston, Chicago, and Los Angeles since Sarver sold the Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury in late 2022 for roughly $4 billion.
Source: Original reporting by Randyl Drummer, CoStar News.
