Funko HQ buildings for sale; toymaker says lease unaffected

EVERETT — A downtown Everett cornerstone known as the Port Gardner Building hit the commercial real estate market last week.

The five-story office building at 2802 Wetmore Ave. is home to Funko, the collectible toymaker that signed a 10-year lease for the office space in 2016.

The company’s leasehold now consists of the nearly 100,000-square-f00t iconic structure, as well as a neighboring parking garage connected by a sky bridge and a third standalone building across Wetmore Avenue. The three Funko headquarters properties are listed together, with an asking price of $52.95 million, according to the official offering.

Funko’s lease isn’t affected by the sale, according to a company spokesperson.

The buildings are owned by a local private equity group, said the listing broker, Dave Speers of Kidder Mathews.

The Port Gardner Building, built in 1929, is on the Everett Register of Historic Places. It initially housed Rumbaugh’s Department Store and the Balboa Theatre next door. In the 1940s, it was bought and became the Bon Marché department store, which closed in 1991.

More recently, it housed Trinity Lutheran College until the college permanently shuttered in 2016.

That year, the college sold the historic building and attached parking garage for $11.5 million, according to public records.

Funko relocated its corporate offices to the Port Gardner Building in 2017, moving from a south Everett location at 1202 Shuksan Way.

The company is known for pop culture-inspired vinyl figures, with signature oversized heads and wide eyes. Its CEO told investors this month that the toymaker reached a milestone last year, reporting more than $1 billion in sales in 2021. Sales are expected to increase another 20% to 25% this year, according to a Thursday news release.

Last month, the company said its headquarters would remain rooted in downtown, despite a decision to move its Everett warehouses to a single facility in Buckeye, Arizona.

Funko has spent an estimated $13 million to renovate the Port Gardner building, according to the offering.

Public records list Port Gardner Building LLC as the current owner of the historic building and attached parking garage, which has nearly 400 stalls and a Wells Fargo Bank branch.

Funko’s downtown footprint has expanded to include the building at 2731 Wetmore Ave., with four stories and nearly 60,000 square feet. That building is undergoing a major renovation expected to cost more than $7 million and to be completed this summer, according to the offering.

Public records say 2731 Wetmore Ave. is owned by GT Wetmore LLC, which purchased it for $8.89 million in September 2019.

Port Gardner Building and GT Wetmore are registered to the same Seattle address as InCity Properties, a property management company.

In total, Funko is scheduled to pay about $3 million in 2022 to lease the buildings, according to the offering.

Rachel Riley: 425-339-3465; rriley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @rachel_m_riley.