Martin Selig

Martin Selig (born 1936/37) is a German-born American property developer, particularly known for his work in Seattle including the Columbia Center, the city's tallest building. He is a Holocaust survivor, having been able to go into hiding from the Nazis and then immigrate with his family to the US.

Martin Selig
Born	1936 or 1937 (age 87–88)[1] Germany
Nationality	American
Known for	Founder and owner of Martin Selig Real Estate
Spouse(s)	Andrea Selig (divorced) Catherine Mayer
Children	3

Early life

Martin Selig was born to a Jewish family in Germany,^[2] the son of Manfred Selig (1902-1992), who was born in Buchen, Germany, the son of a horse trader. In 1939 Manfred was warned by a neighbour "that the Nazis had labeled him an undesirable". He, his wife, and two children left quickly. The next day the Nazis confiscated his home and business. The family hid in warehouses in Frankfurt, before heading eastwards via Poland, Russia, Korea and Japan. They boarded a steamer to San Francisco, but chose Seattle "on a whim" because the boat stopped there and the sun was shining.^[1][3]

In Seattle, Manfred opened "Selig's Linen Shop", started a children's clothing business, and was an art collector.^[3]

Career

Columbia Center, Seattle

Selig worked for his father in his children's clothing store before building his first shopping center in 1962.^[1] His plan to build a 48-story building in Belltown in 1979 was cancelled after protests from residents of the existing Devonshire Apartments, a low-income housing property on the site.^[4]

Since then, he has built mostly tall buildings in Seattle, including two blocks on Fifth Avenue known as Fifth & Jackson and Fifth & Yesler, and by the 1980s owned nearly one-third of Seattle's office space, with Forbes estimating his 1987 net worth at US$270 million.^[1] He was the developer for the Columbia Center in 1985, still the city's tallest building, and sold it in 1989 for $354 million.^[1]

In August 2015, it was reported that he had submitted plans to build a 31-story tower on top of the 1950s Federal Reserve Bank Building on 2nd Avenue. He bought the building in a government auction for $16 million earlier in 2015. The two buildings would be separated by what he describes as a 36-foot high "winter garden".^[5] The project was later scaled down to eight stories after historic preservation groups objected to the taller height; the renovated building opened in 2020, without a major tenant.^[6]

In October 2015, Martin Selig Real Estate owned 4 million square feet of office space in Seattle, and his estimated net worth was $1.1 billion.^[7] The firm has been criticized for being delinquent on paying electricity bills to Seattle City Light in 2006 and 2016, the latter totaling $1.9 million before being paid.^[8]

The COVID-19 pandemic's negative impact on Seattle's office space market led to major financial troubles for Martin Selig Real Estate. On March 20, 2024, a loan of $239 million, backed by seven of Selig's office buildings in downtown Seattle, was flagged for "imminent maturity default", suggesting that the borrowers are not expected to be able to repay the loan in full. The loan was transferred to a special servicer. As of April 20, 2024, Selig's businesses had at least $8 million in delinquent bills, including $3.4 million in delinquent property tax payments.^[9] Selig defaulted on another loan, of $240 million, according to documents filed on November 15, 2024.^[10] In December 2024, Martin Selig Real Estate told lenders that it would not be able to repay a different $379 million loan that would be due in April 2025, bringing the company's total delinquent or defaulted loans to over $800 million, associated with 18 office buildings.^[11]

Martin Selig Real Estate experienced continuing financial troubles in 2025. In February, seven of Selig's parking lots went into receivership, in response to a petition by Goldman Sachs Bank, which had lent Selig $50 million against the parking lots.^[12] On March 31, Martin Selig Real Estate laid off 86 employees, of a workforce estimated to be below 200 people, effective the following day.^[13] Jordan Selig, Martin's daughter and the heir apparent to the 87-year-old founder, resigned from Martin Selig Real Estate on April 8.^[14] In April, the company finalized a deal to hand over 400 Westlake and the Federal Reserve Building, two of its largely vacant office buildings, to its lender, Acore Capital.^[15]

Projects

• Columbia Center (owned until 1989): tallest building in Seattle since completion
• 1000 Second Avenue: company headquarters
• Fifth & Yesler Building
• Fifth & Jackson Building^[16]
• 1015 Second Avenue, at the site of Federal Reserve Bank Building (owned until 2025)
• The Modern (the company's first residential tower, opened in 2020)

Personal life

He is an art collector, paints himself, and owns works by Rembrandt and Toulouse-Lautrec.^[7]

He was married to Andrea Selig; they divorced in 1995.^[2] They have three children: David, Lauren and Jordan.^[17][1][18] Selig later married artist Catherine Mayer.^[2]

His daughter, Lauren Selig, a Hollywood executive producer, is the widow of Russian-born American Kyril Faenov, head of Microsoft's High Performance Computing Lab, who died by suicide in 2012.^[17]

Political views

Selig is a Republican and donates to political causes. He endorsed and planned a fundraiser for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, but later withdrew his support.^[19] He later contributed $50,000 to Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign.^[20]