The Schuster Group, which built the gorgeous, environmentally innovative Mosler Lofts, is trying to sell its two-story headquarters in lower Queen Anne for $4 million. The building has housed Schuster’s staff of about 15 people—some whom were recently laid off—for over two years.

“The building is actually owned by one of our investment groups and part of our responsibly is to return money to our investors,” says Scott Bevan, senior development manager of Schuster. “In order to return in that investment, we have got to sell the property.”

The natural conclusion would be that the company invested in projects—such as Normandy Park Towne Center, a new shopping plaza—that have failed to produce the returns necessary to keep square with its financiers. (A contractor sued Schuster and Mosler Lofts last summer, claiming Schuster owed a $6.7 million unpaid bill.) But Bevan insists that’s not the case. The company routinely buys and sells properties, he says, and has upgraded the environmental rating of the headquarters building to make it more marketable. “We are not having to sell it; we just think it is a good time to,” he says. But the “time” to sell it seems terrible—real-estate values are at their lowest point in years.

“It is obviously a very difficult real estate market right now,” says Bevan. “We are experiencing the same trouble that other people in town are.”

Bevan says the company has laid off some members of its staff; however, he would not disclose how many. “[The Schuster office building] is more space than we need,” says Bevan. The company, which has been in business for 20 years, will move its remaining into rental offices, he says.

Sadly, it seems the developers hit hardest by the recession are those producing some of the most interesting buildings. Design and development firm Pb Elemental, known for beautiful, boxy homes, laid off staff in October and announced plans to sell its headquarters in February. Triad Development, which is planning the new tower and plaza across form city hall, laid off over 20 percent of its staff last December.