The morning show of KEXP, our local nonprofit / independent music station called this "Seattle's unofficial anthem." I've lived here nearly all my life and I can tell you things have changed. People who grew up here who haven't been back in awhile barely recognize it. South Lake Union was once an expanse of parking lots, dive bars, and the occasional art gallery or offbeat store. Now it's called 'Amazonia.' Real estate prices are high, there's a housing crunch, and the gold rush is on.
Everything changes, but the pace of change can be a little disorienting sometimes. I too feel nostalgia for some of the old places where I spent time when I was younger. (every dive becomes something new, and all our ghosts get swept away, didn't used to be this way).
From the Seattle Times:
The number of construction crews remaking Central Seattle has picked back up in recent months but remains behind peak levels seen a year ago, when office construction topped the nation among all U.S. downtowns.
The Downtown Seattle Association uses city permit data to tally up construction totals each winter and summer for the region that spans from South Lake Union to Sodo, where the majority of Seattle’s development takes place.
The number of projects underway reached a record high of 74 projects a year ago, before falling to 57 six months ago and rebounding to 65 now.
The most eye-popping number from the report? Last year, among central business districts, Seattle led the nation in office construction completed, accounting for 20 percent of all office projects finished in major U.S. downtowns, the group said, citing research from the commercial real estate firm JLL.
Amazon is the main reason – the tech giant continues to dominate the Seattle office market and now has 10 million square feet of space in the city, or about one-fifth of the Class A office space citywide. But new office towers for Facebook, Google, F5 and other companies also have bolstered commercial real estate activity.
Still, most of the construction continues to be apartments for those tech workers and others. About 60 percent of all projects underway in the greater downtown area include housing, and virtually all of those are rental apartments. That’s helped rents flat-line in the past year or so.
The morning show of KEXP, our local nonprofit / independent music station called this "Seattle's unofficial anthem." I've lived here nearly all my life and I can tell you things have changed. People who grew up here who haven't been back in awhile barely recognize it. South Lake Union was once an expanse of parking lots, dive bars, and the occasional art gallery or offbeat store. Now it's called 'Amazonia.' Real estate prices are high, there's a housing crunch, and the gold rush is on.
Everything changes, but the pace of change can be a little disorienting sometimes. I too feel nostalgia for some of the old places where I spent time when I was younger. (every dive becomes something new, and all our ghosts get swept away, didn't used to be this way).
From the Seattle Times:
The number of construction crews remaking Central Seattle has picked back up in recent months but remains behind peak levels seen a year ago, when office construction topped the nation among all U.S. downtowns. The Downtown Seattle Association uses city permit data to tally up construction totals each winter and summer for the region that spans from South Lake Union to Sodo, where the majority of Seattle’s development takes place. The number of projects underway reached a record high of 74 projects a year ago, before falling to 57 six months ago and rebounding to 65 now. The most eye-popping number from the report? Last year, among central business districts, Seattle led the nation in office construction completed, accounting for 20 percent of all office projects finished in major U.S. downtowns, the group said, citing research from the commercial real estate firm JLL. Amazon is the main reason – the tech giant continues to dominate the Seattle office market and now has 10 million square feet of space in the city, or about one-fifth of the Class A office space citywide. But new office towers for Facebook, Google, F5 and other companies also have bolstered commercial real estate activity. Still, most of the construction continues to be apartments for those tech workers and others. About 60 percent of all projects underway in the greater downtown area include housing, and virtually all of those are rental apartments. That’s helped rents flat-line in the past year or so.