Russell Investments moving to Seattle

Russell Investments, Tacoma’s largest private employer, will move next year to downtown Seattle, into the former WaMu Center. The move means 900 well-paying jobs will be leaving the City of Destiny, positions that city will be hard-pressed to replace.

Russell’s parent company, Northwestern Mutual, is purchasing the new building for $115 million, which was renamed Chase Center after JPMorgan Chase bought Washington Mutual in September 2008. Many offices in the building have been vacant since the acquisition; Chase has fewer than 500 employees in the tower, down from more than 4,000 in WaMu’s day.