The hotel was built by Seattle developer Richard Hedreen and opened on November 28, 1970 as The Seattle Hilton Downtown.[4] It was later renamed the Hilton Seattle.[5][6]
In July 2012, Stonebridge Cos., based in Englewood, Colorado, bought the hotel from R.C. Hedreen Co for $60 million.[7] In October 2012, Boston-based AEW Capital Management purchased the hotel for $63 million.[8] In 2016, New York-based Westbrook Partners purchased the hotel for $60.3 million.[9]
In 2024, the Tokyo-based APA Hotel Co., Ltd. purchased the hotel in 2024 for $68.8 million. The hotel left Hilton and joined APA's wholly-owned Coast Hotels division on June 13, 2024, renamed the Coast Seattle Downtown Hotel by APA.[10]