Seattle issued a permit Oct. 23 to build new offices for the law firm Foster Garvey on the 26th, 27th and 28th floors of 2001 Eighth Ave., the 28-story tower Amazon used to fill. The permit's reported value is $6.4 million.
It's the largest of four interior permits the city has issued at the building since early September. Another one names a second new tenant, SoFi, a few floors down.
Four permits in seven weeks
The first came Sept. 3, a $456,000 permit to "construct tenant improvement to existing commercial building at level 25." Twenty days later the city issued a second 25th-floor permit, this one for "tenant improvements to Sofi," at $182,500.
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On Oct. 14 a $300,000 permit followed for the 26th floor. It doesn't name a tenant.
Then came the big one. The Oct. 23 permit covers "tenant improvements to Foster Garvey on the 26th 27th and 28th floors." All four are issued permits, and the values are the estimates reported to the city, not contract amounts.
From Amazon to West8
The tower was finished in 2009. By 2021 Amazon leased about 70% of its 539,000 square feet, CommercialSearch reported.
That September, Kilroy Realty bought the building for $490 million. Amazon's lease was set to run out in April 2023, and the company stayed until 2023, according to CommercialCafe.
Kilroy renamed the tower West8 and finished a renovation in 2024. It added a new arrival area at the entrance and a floor of shared amenities for tenants, according to the same report.
A 13-year lease for a 1904 law firm
Foster Garvey signed for 52,000 square feet across two and a half floors in February, Connect CRE reported. The lease runs 13 years. The firm was founded in 1904 and has about 150 attorneys, according to the same story.
Its Seattle office today is at 1111 Third Ave., the firm's website shows.
Rob Paratte, Kilroy's chief leasing officer, called the deal a sign of "the strength of Seattle's office market," according to both reports.
The coverage and the permit line up closely but not exactly. The news describes two and a half floors, while the permit lists all three, 26 through 28. The reports also differ a little on the move-in. CommercialCafe says the second half of 2027, and Connect CRE says the third quarter of 2027.
Downtown starts adding tenants again
The West8 permits arrive as downtown Seattle fills back up. Downtown added 300,000 square feet of occupied office space in the third quarter, 197,000 of it in the central business district, according to CBRE figures reported by MyNorthwest. MyNorthwest called it the first uptick in five years.
Top-tier buildings are getting most of that business. Class A buildings took more than 80% of new leasing across the Puget Sound region, MyNorthwest reported, citing the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Next at 2001 Eighth Ave. is the build-out itself on floors 25 through 28, with Foster Garvey due to move in during 2027.
How we count
Permits come from the City of Seattle's building permit records for 2001 8th Ave., issued Sept. 3 through Oct. 23, 2026. Values are the valuations reported on the permits, not contract amounts, and they aren't added together here. Owner, tenant and building details come from the reporting linked in this story.
See Seattle's latest permit numbers, updated weekly.
Sources
- CommercialSearch, "Kilroy Pays $490 million for Amazon-Anchored Tower" (Sept. 21, 2021): commercialsearch.com
- IREI, "Kilroy Realty grows Seattle footprint with $490 million acquisition" (Sept. 21, 2021): irei.com
- CommercialCafe, "Prominent Seattle Law Firm Inks Office Lease at West8" (Feb. 27, 2026): commercialcafe.com
- Connect CRE, "Kilroy Realty Executes 52K-SF Office Lease with Foster Garvey in Seattle" (Feb. 11, 2026): connectcre.com
- Foster Garvey, Seattle office contact page: foster.com
- MyNorthwest, "For the first time in 5 years Downtown Seattle leases see an uptick" (Oct. 19, 2026): mynorthwest.com
- City of Seattle building permits 7144380-CN, 7161044-BK, 7163387-BK and 7158709-BK.
- Photo: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org
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