Selig worked for his father in his children's clothing store before building his first shopping center in 1962. 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. 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. In October 2015, Martin Selig Real Estate owned of office space in Seattle, and his estimated net worth was $1.1 billion. In 2019, Selig's net worth was reportedly $2 billion. 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. In 2025, the city of Seattle sued entities associated with Selig for over $4.5 million in unpaid assessments due to the Metropolitan Improvement District, a
business improvement district, over an 11-year period. 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. Selig defaulted on another loan, of $240 million, according to documents filed on November 15, 2024. 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. 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. One of the lots later sold to Urban Visions and Diamond Parking for less than one-third of what Selig had paid for it a decade earlier. On March 31, Martin Selig Real Estate laid off 86 employees, of a workforce estimated to be below 200 people, effective the following day. Jordan Selig, Martin's daughter and the
heir apparent to the 87-year-old founder, resigned from Martin Selig Real Estate on April 8. 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. Selig lost the Modern in May 2025, and nine other buildings in June, due to his company’s inability to pay loans associated with them. In August 2025, seven of Selig's buildings, including the Fifth & Jackson building, were sold to CW Capital for $120 million; they had been backing $239 million in commercial
mortgage-backed securities.
Projects •
Columbia Center (owned until 1989):
tallest building in Seattle since completion •
1000 Second Avenue: company headquarters (owned until 2025) • Fifth & Yesler Building • Fifth & Jackson Building (owned until 2025) •
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; owned until 2025) ==Personal life==