This past Sunday, The Times featured a worth-mentioning piece on the stalled condominium and apartment buildings downtown Seattle and Bellevue.  With over 23 projects in Seattle alone, the lack of construction financing is the number one contributing factor for the dead sites. 

1. 151 John Street (17 Apartments, 1st & John)
2. Icon (283 Condominiums, 6th & Denny)
3. Insignia (646 Condominiums, 5th & Battery)
4. 2030 8th Ave (230 Condominiums, 8th & Lenora)
5. Stewart & Minor Lofts (150 Apartments/160-Room Hotel)
6. 7th & Westlake (365 Condominiums/342,000 SF Office)
7. 1800 Terry Ave (261 Retirement Apartments, Terry & Howell)
8. 2nd & Bell (102 Apartments)
9. 2700 Elliott Ave (100 Condominiums, Elliott & Cedar)
10. The Martin (170 Condominiums, 5th & Lenora)
11. AVA (236 Condominiums/190-Room Hotel, 8th & Pine)
12. 1519 Minor Ave (80 Condominiums, Minor & Pine)
13. Art House (140 Condominiums, Elliott & Battery)
14. Western & Blanchard (113 Condominiums)
15. Heron & Pagoda Towers (400 Condominiums/200-Room Hotel/267,000 SF Office, 5th & Virginia)
16. 2000 3rd Ave (441 Apartments/40-Room Hotel, 3rd & Virginia)
17. 1915 2nd Ave (175 Condominiums, 2nd & Virginia)
18. 1 Hotel & Residences (51 Condominiums/44 Suites/192-Room Hotel, 2nd & Stewart)
19. SkyGarden (116 Condominiums, First Hill)
20. 5th & Columbia Tower (760,000 SF Office)
21. Colman Center (170,000 SF Office, Pioneer Square)
22. Smith Tower Condo Conversion (12 Condominiums, 2nd Ave & Yesler)
23. 200 Occidental Ave S (62 Condominiums/130,000 SF Office, Pioneer Square)

The total is close to 4,200 residential dwellings! Click here to read more.

What typically is governed by individual condominium associations, has now become a public affair and the city is now getting involved in banning the use of condominiums as short-term rentals.

The Department of Planning and Development has interpreted the land use code to mean that multifamily units in a high-rise residential zone, can’t be rented for less than 30 days because this would be considered a commercial use.

This all came about last year when the city took action against 16 owners of units at the Elektra (1400 Hubbell Place) for the code violation after several other homeowners had complained about seeing “strangers” in the building. Check out SeattleSuite.com - looks like there are several still in the building and reviews are even surfacing on GoogleMaps!

As if 1 Hotel & Residences (2nd & Pine) doesn’t have enough to work through already, now the ruling could affect the future design of the building AGAIN as it was intended to be the city’s first condo-hotel allowing individual buyers to offer their suites as hotel rooms.

Click here to read more!

What was to be the site of 1 Hotel & Residences will remain a desolate gaping hole on 2nd Ave and Pine until Starwood Capitol Group can secure a construction loan and proceed with a newly designed 23-story hotel-condo building.

Not only has the construction been delayed for nearly a year now, but most recently Avalon Holdings, a Portland-based firm headed by Paul Brenneke, has sold their interest ($45 million) in the $250 million project. Avalon will continue to develop the 18,800 square feet of retail space at street level of the Macy’s parking garage and it was announced that Columbia Sportswear Company is planning to operate two retail stores in the space as early as this fall.

Click here to read more!

Recently homeowners on the southside of the Cristalla and eastside of One Pacific Tower have expressed some concern about the proposed project on the north and south corner of 2nd and Virginia. I was able to take a peak at the design review proposal and although views (and daylight!) definitely will be impacted by the project, I think that rebuilding the 2nd Ave strip is a must for such a prime location.

The ?twin? towers, designed by Weber+Thompson and developed by Justen Company, LLC will join the Cristalla, 1915 Second Ave and 1521 Second Ave to create ?a five-building assemblage that will reshape the skyline behind the market district.?

South Tower
1931 2nd Ave
38 floors total- 10 floors hotel/lobby (117 rooms) & 28 floors residential (185 condominiums)

North Tower
2015 2nd Ave
39 floors total- 6 floors lobby/retail & 33 floors residential (234 condominiums)

1915 2nd Ave
24 floors total- Street level retail & 175 condominiums developed by Intracorp

Other projects just blocks away are One Residences (2nd & Pine), Escala (4th & Virginia), The Alex (1st and Bell) and a 43 story apartment building on 3rd & Virginia.

The American Planning Association ranked Pike Place Market (Market District) as one of the top 10 great places in America based on design, functionality, sustainability and community involvement.

They noted Pike Place as having “a history as rich and colorful as the produce it sells,” and furthermore identifying it as “Seattle’s most compact, walkable and diverse neighborhood.”

“This neighborhood is the other side of Pike Place, the side that most of the millions of visitors to the Market each year don’t realize exists,” association Executive Director Paul Farmer said.

Click here to read more.

Condominiums that are currently under construction in the Market District are:

Fifteen Twenty-One
One Residences
Four Seasons Private Residences
1915 2nd Avenue ? Coming Soon! (200 Condominiums, 2010 Occupancy)
2nd & Pike- Coming Soon! (289 Condominiums, 2010 Occupancy)

This Saturday and Sunday, don?t forget to drop by the 2007 Seattle Urban Condo Tour at Fisher Plaza! The two day event is FREE and will give you the opportunity to tour 20 of the newest condo projects in Seattle.

There will also be seminars that will cover topics on securing financing, adding value to your condo, agent secrets and what our cityscape/economy will look like in 2011.

Some of the properties that are participating:

For more information, visit the official website!

The SeattleTimes put together an informational piece about our new ?1? Hotel & Residences this past weekend. You may or may not be familiar with the newest condo-hotel concept but here is the general overview:

- Located on the corner of 2nd and Pine
- 23 floors, 176 condo-hotel rooms and 51 traditional condominiums
- Scheduled for fall 2009 occupancy, sales start in a couple of weeks!
- Prices are ranging from the low $600k up to $10M
- Condo-hotel rooms managed by Starwood Development
- Rooms are expected to go for between $290-$400 per night
- For a change investors are welcome!
- The building offers a full-service athletic club and day spa as well as a grocery store, restaurant and ample guest/public parking

Click here to read more!
I will soon have additional, firsthand information for you but please feel free to contact me with questions - AJH

Here are some of the articles that came out last Saturday in the Downtown Living section of the Seattle Times/Seattle PI:

• AVA - (website)
• The Gallery - (website)
• Escala - (website)
• 1 Hotel & Residences - (website)
• Mosler Lofts - (website)

Ken Alhadeff, the owner of several historic Seattle buildings, just sold five of them to Principal Financial Group for $62 million. The Puget Sound Business Journal reported that it was an emotional event for the whole family due to the fact that the buildings have been in the family for decades. Principal Financial Group purchased the following:

The Broderick Building, 615 Second Ave., 77,553 sq ft, 7 stories, built in 1889 and renovated in 1986, purchase for $13.42 million

The MJA Building, 1613 Second Ave., 16,509 sq ft, 2 stories, built in 1914 and renovated in 1994, purchased for $3.41 million

The Broadacres Building, 1601 Second Ave., 112,889 sq ft, 10 stories, built in 1907 and renovated in 1994, purchased for $23.09 million

The MiKen Building, 1417 Fourth Ave., 47,364 sq ft, 8 stories, built in 1908 and renovated in 1999, purchased for $9.04 million

The Coliseum Theatre, 1506 Fifth Ave., 29,065 sq ft, 1 story, built in 1915 and renovated in 1994, purchased for $13.02 million. (currently occupied by Banana Republic)

With the new zoning guidelines in place, the two-story MJA Building near Pike Place Market could potentially be redeveloped into a 40-story tower with unobstructed views of Elliott Bay and the Olympics. If that is the plan, the 2nd and Pine location of 1613 2nd Ave would surely block views of those purchasing at 1 Hotel & Residences (1600 2nd Ave)!

-Photo: Morris Alhadeff (c.) and Joseph Gottstein (r.) outside Coliseum Theater, Seattle, 1967 Courtesy MOHAI (Neg. No. P-I 1986.5.12632.1)

If the sudden boom of luxury hotel/condominium projects weren’t already making headlines, it looks like Donald Trump and Wood Partners LLC are in negotiations to find a site in Seattle for their very own. It doesn’t look like too many details have been discussed publicly but for more information click here.

Other hotel/condominium projects currently in Seattle are:
- Madison Tower & Hotel 1000: 1st and Madison, Downtown
- Live 2200 & Pan Pacific Hotel: Westlake and Denny, South Lake Union
- The Four Seasons: 1st and Union, Downtown
- Olive 8 & The Hyatt: 8th and Olive, Downtown
- One Hotel & Residences: 2nd and Pine, Downtown