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A Portland company has cashed in from soaring rents in Seattle, selling a landmark office building there for $47.8 million more than it paid just two years ago.

Gerding Edlen bought the 15-story Dexter | Horton Building in 2013 for $76.6 million. The firm鈥檚 sale of the building for $124.4 million, to a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Great Eagle Holdings Limited, closed on Monday, according to Molly Bordonaro, a partner at Gerding Edlen.

She attributed the profitable transaction to savvy renovations intended to appeal to modern tenants.

鈥淲e modernized and 鈥榓menitized鈥� the entire building, and made tenant spaces appealing to today鈥檚 renters,鈥� she said.

An offering memorandum by the San Francisco broker retained by Gerding Edlen states that potential exists to raise rents at the building significantly. The Dexter | Horton is 89 percent leased, but many of the leases are below market rate, and half of them expire in fewer than five years.

Gerding Edlen, while it owned the building, invested more than $7 million in renovations. Updates included remodels of the lobby and conference room, new common areas, a 鈥渟tate-of-the-art鈥� bicycle room with men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 lockers, and a well-appointed rooftop deck. A mechanical area that had become disused was converted to a dog run and relief area, enabling employees to bring their canines to work.

The building also received $34 million in renovations between 2000 and 2006, including seismic remediation and system upgrades.

In June, the Dexter | Horton received a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design gold rating through the U.S. Green Building Council鈥檚 new Dynamic Plaque certification.

Gerding Edlen bought the Dexter | Horton from LaSalle Investment Management on behalf of Prudential UK, which sold the building for $4.4 million less than it paid in 2006. It was Gerding Edlen鈥檚 first Seattle office building. Currently, the company is developing an 11-story residential tower along Seattle鈥檚 waterfront and a four-building apartment complex in the city鈥檚 Capitol Hill district.

The largest tenant in the Dexter | Horton is Corbis Corp., a photo and video licensing company owned by Bill Gates. Other tenants include Vix Technology and AOL.

The terra cotta-clad Dexter | Horton Building is in Seattle鈥檚 Central Business District and was once the home of the city鈥檚 first bank 鈥� Dexter Horton Bank. It was one of the country鈥檚 largest office buildings when it was constructed in 1922 with more than 1,000 offices.