Downtown CBD is a trophy-tier Class A submarket of Seattle with average asking rent around $65/sqft/yr.
Trophy waterfront and financial core. · Tier: trophy · Avg rent: $65/sqft/yr
Downtown Seattle's CBD anchors the city's trophy office product — Rainier Square, F5 Tower, and a deep portfolio of waterfront and Pioneer Square Class A inventory.
Tech, banking, law, professional services, government.
15–40,000 sqft floor plates available across newer Class A stock; 9'+ slab-to-slab and modern MEP common.
Westlake, University Street, Pioneer Square (Link 1 Line).
Multi-modal transit captures the metro's principal professional catchment.
Pike Place Market, Seattle Art Museum, waterfront.
Downtown CBD is one of 5 Class A submarkets we cover in Seattle, classified as trophy tier with an average asking rent around $65/sqft/yr. Compared with the broader Seattle Class A stock, Downtown CBD typically attracts Tech, banking, law, professional services, government and competes most directly with the city's other trophy submarkets on building specification, transit access, and amenitisation.
Adjacent submarkets to study alongside Downtown CBD: South Lake Union, Bellevue, Pioneer Square, Redmond. The full Seattle submarket atlas is at /cities/seattle.
For an institutional Class A occupier evaluating Downtown CBD, the highest-leverage analyses to commission next are the rent benchmark, the concession-package comparable, and the ESG performance baseline. Class A Atlas covers each as a dedicated topic page for this submarket:
Terminology specific to Seattle Class A leasing and to the trophy tier: Class A, Trophy asset, Effective rent, Concession package, TI allowance, Submarket tier.
Reviewed by Miriam Hollander — Lead market analyst. Last updated 2026-04-15. See our methodology and editorial standards.