Belltown is named for William Nathaniel Bell, one of the original settlers whose heavily forested land became downtown Seattle. The Belltown/Downtown area is where many Seattle landmarks like Pike Place Market and Smith Tower are found. Fortune 500 companies Nordstrom and Expeditors International are headquartered here. Among the many ongoing projects downtown, work began in June 2015 to lay the foundation for Weyerhaeuser’s new headquarters in Pioneer Square, to be opened in 2016; and the Pioneer Building on First Avenue has been purchased for redevelopment as co-working space and suites for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The pioneers’ clapboard houses are long gone and virtually all recorded sales are now of mid-rise and high-rise condominiums in this vibrant, 21st century city.
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