Seattle Housing Buzz

The Downtown Seattle Association hosted its annual State of Downtown event last week providing an overview of downtown commerce, development and livability issues. Downtown housing highlights include:

• Approximately 13% of Seattle’s housing units, or 37,320 units, are located in the downtown area.
• The number of residents increased nominally to 54,773 people. However, the number of children living downtown increased to 2,814, about 100 more than reported for the prior year.
• 16% of downtown units are owner occupied, 84% are rentals, unchanged from the prior year.
• Since 1990, population grew by 61.1% compared to 12.7% for Seattle as a whole.
• The average household income rose to 3.5% to $53,294 with a per capita income of $34,472.
• 39% of residents over 25 years of age hold a bachelors degree.
• Interestingly, there was a drop in the number of residents under 35 years of age, from 41% to 39% of all downtown residents. The average age is 43 years.
• There are approximately 5,700 new residential units currently under construction or permitted.
• Subsidized housing makes up 26% of all housing units in the downtown area.

Other downtown tidbits:

• The number of coffee shops increased 2.9% in the past year to 207.
• 231,532 employees, or 49.2% of all employees in Seattle, work in downtown, down slightly from the prior year.
• 44.4% of Puget Sound’s office market is located downtown.
• Over $1.1 billion in development projects were completed in 2007, up 44% from the prior year. Another $3 billion worth are currently under construction.
• The amount of open space and parks expanded by 38% from 42 acres to 58 acres.
• DSA reports that the number of tourists, entertainment seekers, conventioneers and sporting event attendees stood at over 18 million people.
• 190 cruise ship vessel calls comprising over 781,000 boardings were experienced in 2007. The cruise ship industry generated $268 million in revenue and contributed $6.7 million in local & state taxes.

Tags: Downtown Seattle, Seattle

The South Lake Union Street Car will begin test runs on Monday, October 29th. To kick-off the street car tests, a press conference event is being held at 9 AM on the 29th. The mayor, representatives from SDOT and the manufacturer (from the Czech Republic) will be on hand.

The S.L.U.T., as it’s affectionately known, will begin operations in December and will cost $1.50 per ride. The current route extends from Fred Hutch to Westlake Center. I’m told rides will be free in December to celebrate its launch.

Tags: South Lake Union. Street Car

There’s too many townhomes sprouting up throughout Seattle you say? Well, it certainly seems that way as virtually all new developments within the city limits are either condos or townhomes. And, as more and more townhomes replace single family homes it seems to stir up peoples ire. But is it really that bad?

Considering land scarcity and construction costs it’s not that feasible to build single family homes within the city. And, as the population continues to grow and housing demand increases, townhomes provide a optimal solution - creating both quantity to meet demand and an affordable option in light of increasing single family home values.

So, are townhomes taking over the city? Well, not really. Townhomes are limited to areas zoned for lowrise housing, notably those with L1, L2 or L3 classifications. Due to zoning requirements, most developers favor L2 or L3 zoned properties as they can maximize the number of units that can be built.

Seattle only has a limited number of L2 and L3 zoned properties compared to single family homes. Most of the L2/L3 zones can be found in specific areas namely around downtown Ballard, the Licton Springs area north of Green Lake, along Greenwood Ave & Lake City Way, Fremont, the edges of Queen Anne and Magnolia, the south end of Capitol Hill, as well as the Central area and parts of West Seattle.

Since the lowrise zones are located in pockets, townhome developments are concentrated together rather than distributed throughout the city, thereby giving the impression of a townhome invasion. Current zoning does protect the vast majority of the city from townhome developments though it seems to be at the expense of several neighborhoods.

Seattle’s department of planning and development provides several resources specifying zoning classifications.

This link (PDF) provides a fantastic graphical overview of the various zoning classifications by color. The map easily identifies the limited areas of the city that are zoned for lowrise development.
http://www.seattle.gov/dclu/Research/gis/webplots/smallzonemap.pdf

This link breaks the city into grids that shows classification by specific area (blocks).
http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/zoningmaps/zmapindx.htm

Finally, this link drills down to individual parcels within zoning classification borders.
http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Research/Zoning_Maps/default.asp

Tags: Green Lake, Seattle, townhomes

It has been speculated for some time that Amazon has been contemplating a move to the South Lake Union area. Initial reports indicated that Amazon was considering up to 1 million square feet of office space.

In today’s Crosscut, it now appears likely that Amazon will be moving its headquarters and consolidating in South Lake Union.

Though 5,000 employees would eventually be transplanted to SLU, it’s unlikely to have much of an impact on housing or condo sales in the short-term, since the move is only a couple of miles in distance. Longer-term, landing Amazon, Microsoft, UW and Group Health will add to the appeal of SLU. And, it bodes well towards enticing retail and service-related businesses to the SLU district.

Update 10/12/07 - Vulcan and Schnitzer announced plans to build a large office complex in the heart of SLU. The 1.5 million square feet complex, to be completed in 2011, will have just one tenant - Amazon, according to the DJC. The first phase will begin later this year with initial occupancy in 2010.

Image: Seattle PI

Read: Seattle PI - Vulcan reveals plan for six more buildings

Tags: Amazon, South Lake Union, Vulcan

The Seattle PI posted an article today about the lack of family-friendly living in the downtown core. Parents cite lack of larger units, developers cite lack of schools and schools cite lack of demand; an unenviable catch-22. Yet, I’m not sure there is an easy solution.

Certainly, bringing schools to the area will provide a foundation for families to consider urban living. But, should the city invest into a new school that currently would have very little demand, especially at a time when other schools are closing? Will building larger units, as some parents claim, bring them to the downtown area? Considering that 2-bedroom units at Rollin Street Flats & Escala start at $800,000, it reasons that only uber-wealthy families could afford a 3-bedroom “family-sized” condo. And, would children who live in million-dollar condos attend public rather than private schools?

The PI had an accompanying article about how downtown family living works in Vancouver, BC. The article cited downtown schools and the fact that many of those families came from areas where high-rise family living is common and that’s why it works. Which may certainly be true. But, Vancouver’s downtown area, and I’m talking about the West End (between the financial district & Stanley Park), is essentially residential with a mixture of low and high-rise residential buildings, single-family homes, parks, schools and quiet tree-lined streets. Families lived in this part of downtown long before the explosion of high-rises along False Creek and Burrard Inlet.

The fact of the matter is Seattle isn’t Vancouver and never will be. Plus, Vancouver has something Seattle doesn’t, a long-established downtown residential neighborhood with infrastructure and community services to support it. Rather than compare ourselves to Vancouver, Seattle (the city) needs to look inward to determine if the downtown area can truly support urban family living for all classes. And, if so, the city needs to develop solutions rather than rely on developers or the wait endlessly before the demographics change.

The one month long concrete strike has ended as workers accepted a deal providing a $3.95/hr raise over three years. Stalled civic and private projects (e.g. Domaine, Mosler Lofts) can now get going again.

But, was it all for nought? The longevity of the strike that is, since the $3.95 was on the table for several weeks. Eighty-eight workers holding hostage numerous projects county-wide eventually settled for what they were originally offered. Yet, they probably cost the city and builders thousands if not hundreds of thousands more.

On my Seattle Condos and Lofts blog I added a new article about a couple of construction quagmires impacting condos in the downtown area - the cement strike that’s now a month long causing sites to ground to a halt, and the impact of the viaduct decision which could close the downtown portion Highway 99 for 3-6 years rerouting traffic through the downtown street grid.

There were some early murmurs that condos would be built at the old Albertson’s site across the street from Green Lake. The DPD will be having an early design guidance hearing of the proposed project of 148 apartments that will include 12 live/work units and 15,000 sq ft of retail space.

The hearing is set for July 31st at 6:30 pm at the University Heights Community Center, 5301 University Way NE.

To some, Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct (elevated portion of Highway 99) is an eye sore, a disaster waiting to happen, an endearing piece of Seattle’s history. Either way, it slices downtown from it’s waterfront limiting access and views. The 2001 6.8 magnitude Nisqually Earthquake damaged the viaduct which has been undergoing continuous repairs to keep it up and functional. And, experts predict the viaduct may collapse during the next major earthquake.

Several proposals are under consideration from burying Highway 99 underground and creating a street level promenade, rebuilding another viaduct, creating a grade-level thoroughfare or just retrofitting it. Costs range from $800 million to $4 billion.

The city’s preference, and the most appealing & expensive, is tunneling Highway 99. This would open up the waterfront skyline and attach the waterfront to downtown. But it is controversial because the area is landfill that’s supported by a retaining sea wall. The proposal calls for rebuilding the sea wall, thus adding to the cost and closing one of the main North/South thoroughfares for 3 years.
But it has an uphill battle. Seattlites voted down the 14-mile monorail after the $1.7 billion price tag ballooned to $11 billion. One wonders, if the city is pitching a $4 billion proposal today, what exactly is the true cost? Though, if implemented, many condos and lofts along the viaduct will see increased values and may even spur new housing developments.

Before:

After:

Will the real Seattle please stand up.

Recent developments have got me thinking…it seems Seattle is in an identity flux. For generations, Seattle was content being the big fish in the small backwater Northwest pond, overshadowing Portland and Vancouver, BC. Somewhere along the timeline the politicos and business hawks dreamed of the big time. Hey, Seattle had a symphony, ballet, three professional sport teams, Boeing and Microsoft afterall. Grand civic projects were built - a new symphony hall, a sparkling award-winning library, a new city hall and two world-class stadiums. Chicago West? Boston North? New New Amsterdam?

In our not too distant past, politicians envisioned “Cascadia” - a mega metropolitan trifecta consisting of Seattle, Portland and Vancouver with Seattle at the helm.

In the late 1990’s the little city that could got its big chance to shine on the world stage. But something went horribly wrong. For a few days in 1999, Seattle became a war zone. Neighborhoods were tear gassed, mass rioting ensued, overzealous police beating citizens. It was not quite the image leaders wanted to project to the world.

Then, Boeing left. Portland became a model US city and Vancouver is now what Seattle always wanted to be, a gleaming world-class city.

Time heals. The engines of progress are churning again and Seattle is getting another chance. Developers are investing hundreds of millions to revitalize the urban core. But, in the process, are we losing our identity?

Though it’s highly unlikely those 49 proposed high-rise condos will be built, many will, forever changing the landscape and culture. But, who’s skyline is it? By all account, if you listen to the developers and look at the renderings, it’s Vancouver, BC being transplanted south of the 49th parallel. The new buzz term being thrown around lately is “Vancouver-style”.

And South Lake Union? Vulcan’s grand plan is to transport Portland’s Pearl District to the shores of Lake Union, street car and all. Should the Sonics skip town, perhaps Mr. Vulcan will transfer his Trailblazers up I-5. As for Sound Transit’s light-rail & the failed monorail - both were modeled after Vancouver’s Skytrain and Portland’s light-rail system.

Welcome to Seacouverland!