South Lake Union is a trophy-tier Class A submarket of Seattle with average asking rent around $60/sqft/yr.

  • Amazon's home campus.
  • Trophy tier — ~$60/sqft/yr.
  • Active Class A leasing market with deal flow across major broker desks.

South Lake Union, Seattle — Class A submarket

Amazon's home campus. · Tier: trophy · Avg rent: $60/sqft/yr

TL;DR

  • Amazon's home campus.
  • Trophy tier — ~$60/sqft/yr.
  • Active Class A leasing market with deal flow across major broker desks.

Overview

South Lake Union is Amazon's home campus — the deepest single-tenant office concentration in the US. The Spheres are the iconic centerpiece. Surrounding inventory is largely Amazon-leased with limited multi-tenant Class A available.

Tenant profile

Tech (Amazon dominant), biotech, healthcare technology.

Typical specification

15–40,000 sqft floor plates available across newer Class A stock; 9'+ slab-to-slab and modern MEP common.

Transit

Streetcar; Link 1 Line connects via Westlake.

Multi-modal transit captures the metro's principal professional catchment.

Amenities

The Spheres, Lake Union waterfront, MOHAI.

Comparable buildings

  • The Spheres
  • Day 1 Tower
  • Re:Invent (Block 18)

Where South Lake Union sits in Seattle

South Lake Union is one of 5 Class A submarkets we cover in Seattle, classified as trophy tier with an average asking rent around $60/sqft/yr. Compared with the broader Seattle Class A stock, South Lake Union typically attracts Tech (Amazon dominant), biotech, healthcare technology and competes most directly with the city's other trophy submarkets on building specification, transit access, and amenitisation.

Adjacent submarkets to study alongside South Lake Union: Downtown CBD, Bellevue, Pioneer Square, Redmond. The full Seattle submarket atlas is at /cities/seattle.

Topic deep-dives for South Lake Union

For an institutional Class A occupier evaluating South Lake Union, 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:

Related glossary

Terminology specific to Seattle Class A leasing and to the trophy tier: Class A, Trophy asset, Effective rent, Concession package, TI allowance, Submarket tier.

Editorial provenance

Reviewed by Miriam Hollander — Lead market analyst. Last updated 2026-04-15. See our methodology and editorial standards.

Primary sources for this page

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