As the holidays draw near, I am filled by a sense of excitement, knowing I will soon celebrate with close family and friends. I hope that you too are looking forward to the holidays as we say goodbye to 2018 and ring in the new year.
Rah Rah Issaquah!
What do you think of when you think of Issaquah? Do you think of the big Salmon Days event? The Costco headquarters? The beautiful Olde Town neighborhood? Maybe you think of the great school system!
On June 14th, SeattlebyDesign’s Chris Kallin attended a private presentation by Jen Davis Hayes, Issaquah’s Economic Development Manager. Developer’s and tier-1 tenants were the primary audiences, but Chris learned a lot of information that might be of interest to the residential real estate investor and/or owner-occupied homebuyer!
Chris would love to share the full presentation for any interested readers, but here are a few interesting tidbits that you won’t find in the presentation:
– Issaquah boasts more C-Level executives than any other area of the Puget Sound. Astonishing, given some of the more high-profile neighborhoods one might think of first.
– Currently, 70% of the Issaquah valley floor is covered in asphalt. City planners aim to change this dramatically, by requiring structure parking in key areas and for projects of a certain scale.
– The City of Issaquah has lifted their 1.5-year moratorium on new commercial development. The goal during this time was to develop a comprehensive view of a future-Issaquah and to produce an architectural fit / urban design manual. The requisite zoning changes align with the prescriptive objectives.
– Just 9% of residents currently live and work in the city. With several anchor tenants dramatically increasing their footprint (e.g. Costco’s doubling of its corporate office space), planners hope to see this figure improve dramatically. One of the ways they aim to increase this is to add “play” to the live-work-play equation. Projects that provide entertainment value are sure to get more support from the City of Issaquah than others ignoring this element.
– A review of the presentation reveals a number of residential real estate opportunities. Areas of interest might include the area of likely ST3 light rail expansion, the soon-to-be improved transit center, and the several roads being added to the area, including at least one overpass connecting the two halves of the city bisected by I-90.
Please contact Chris Kallin if you’d like more information or a copy of the city’s presentation! You can email him at chris@seattlebydesign.com.
And if you’re interested in making an investment in the area, be sure to check out the Issaquah Active Projects Map: http://bit.ly/2KJNCnd
According to GeekWire, the New Google Campus will Transform the South Lake Union Neighborhood
As the architects behind Google’s proposed campus at South Lake Union prepare for their meeting with the Seattle Design Review Board today at 8pm, GeekWire writes that “New images show how Google’s Seattle campus will transform the South Lake Union neighborhood.” Nat Levy, upon viewing the recently released images, says “the tech giant will drive the next evolution of the South Lake Union neighborhood, right in Amazon’s backyard” with a design aesthetic that speaks to the walkability of the neighborhood and incorporates natural elements, as walls of windows meet greenery throughout.
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Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty to Open 5th Branch Office in Madison Park
We are excited to share that Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty is expanding into Seattle’s Madison Park with its fifth branch office location. The latest addition to our growing global real estate brand will consist of two sites across from each other: The Park House, a boutique real estate store front at 4031 Madison St.; and administrative offices in the building across the street.
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Neighborhood Market Spotlight: Southeast Seattle
Southeast Seattle includes the neighborhoods of Mt. Baker, Seward Park, Leschi, Columbia City, Lakewood, and Rainier Beach. This is an historic area of Seattle, and some of its oldest streets (e.g., Holgate, Lander, Wilson, Angeline, and Graham) are named for early settlers and denizens of the city. The area has been a seller’s market continuously for the past three years, and has not seen more than six weeks of homes in inventory for sale since February 2015. The average monthly supply was 1.2 months in 2015, down from 1.9 months in 2014, and two months in 2013.
Neighborhood Market Spotlight: West Seattle
The West Seattle area of the city of Seattle includes the neighborhoods of Alki, Admiral, North Admiral, Belvedere, Fauntleroy, and Gatewood. Local media reports in 2015 indicated that West Seattle, especially its northern and western neighborhoods, have been a preferred target for homebuyers moving from California’s Bay Area. Chief Sealth High School in West Seattle is ranked among the top public high schools in the state. Although the area has been a seller’s market for years, the monthly supply tightened markedly in 2015, bottoming at 19 days in June. The average monthly supply was 1.8, from 1.7 in 2014 and about a month the previous year.
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Kehinde Wiley Brings “A New Republic” to the Seattle Art Museum
Art means a lot to us, as our brand is rooted in a 272-year Sotheby’s Auction House heritage. Thus we were thrilled to explore the latest exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum, Kehinde Wiley’s A New Republic. As the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) website describes, Wiley reworks the tradition of the portrait. His pieces, which range in medium and include paintings, stained glass and sculpture, “are highly stylized and staged, and draw attention to the dialectic between a history of aristocratic representation and the portrait as a statement of power and the individual’s sense of empowerment.”
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Seattle is Poised for Tremendous Population Growth; Could Surpass San Francisco by 2040
Can you imagine a population in Seattle greater than that in San Francisco? Well, according to an article from The Daily Journal of Commerce, that imagined scenario may become a reality as early as 2040. As Nat Levy reports, “The Puget Sound Regional Council [PSRC] predicts another 1 million people will live in the central Puget Sound region by 2040” and “at least 160,000 of those new people will live in Seattle.”
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The New York Times Weights in on Seattle’s Tech Boom; Asks, “Can Seattle Keep its Soul?”
The Tech Boom’s impact on the economy and housing market in the Seattle area is receiving increasing recognition, as national news outlets are now weighing in on what the Emerald City’s future may hold. Most recently, Nick Wingfield of The New York Times reported that “Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul,” saying that Seattle leaders are no longer looking at San Francisco as a model to live up to, but as a “cautionary tale” to avoid.
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