I enjoyed Tim’s Escala timeline though annoyed he thought of the idea before I did. This lead me to wonder about those 6 sales at Escala and so I dug them up in the county records:
Unfortunately I couldn’t find the square footage of the units. Can anyone help out? Curious to know what these folks paid per square foot.
In other Escala news Stroupe has details on the HOA being reduced to $.58/square foot now that Club Ceilo is no longer. Stroupe seems to have a good connection with the Escala folks. Would be curious to know if he’s representing buyers there or is himself a buyer.
The building, located at Fourth Avenue and Virginia Street, has 67 units pending and is in conversations with those potential owners about their purchases, according to the building’s marketing firm. Partners in Lexas Cos. did not return calls for comment.
Escala cost $370 million to build. The Lexas Cos.’ lender, Fremont General Corp., filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and sold its commercial loan portfolio to New York-based IStar Financial. That company is now handling the financing on the project, which is not in jeopardy, according to the marketing company.
Ruby also sold twounits this week for the exact same price – $279,950, even though one is larger and on a higher floor. We blogged about their new buyer incentives in January.
This condo in Queen Anne sold this week for $1.275 million. Nice digs if you’re willing to pay $17,000 a year in property tax.
A third floor unit in this funky looking building on Aurora sold this week for $262,500. Seems a little pricey to me for 589 square feet…
And lest you have lost faith in the black hole of real estate prices which approach infinity as a function of distance to the tree-filled sunset-reflecting dog-walking-paradise that is Greenlake, this 1-bedroom unit built in 2003 just sold for $464/sq ft.
Years later, Mosler Loft owners are still caught between JE Dunn and the Schuster Group and a $6.7 $2.7 million lien. To shed some light on the problem the owners have started a new public blog, Mosler Lofts Lien.
There is still the lien between JE Dunn and The Schuster Group/Belltown Developing Partners and Chicago Title was supposed to buy a bond with the intention of bonding around and asking the court to release all the individual owners.
Chicago Title, per Stephen Sirianni – Chicago Title Counsel, was in process of purchasing the bond. However it has been over two months and still no action.
Our lawyer James Fick of Bullivant Houser Bailey is working on getting a status from Chicago Title / Stephen Sirianni on the delay.
Hopefully more to come, we would all love to be out from under this lien.
Hopefully they get out from under this soon.
Correction: There was a summary judgment that lowered the original amount of the lien down to approx. $2.7 million.
First up is a #205 at Monique Lofts on Capitol Hill. $389k for a full two story loft. Unfortunately the listing agent mailed it in on the photos.
Next up is #802 at the Seaboard downtown. $469k for a 883 square foot one bedroom:
Finally we have 1317 S State St, one of four Pb Elemental designed townhouses on Beacon Hill. All four are short sales priced at $479k for 3 beds/3.25 baths:
There’s been a lot of new listings hitting the market the last few weeks but not much has caught my eye. However, this past week two lofts popped up in Belltown that caught my eye.
The first, a ground floor loft at Mosler. It’s a 1 bed/1.5 bath, 1,500 square feet. Originally sold as new construction in 2007 for $695k. The seller first listed it at $809k but has now dropped the price to $599k after several months of being off the market. A nice feature about this loft is that you can see the Space Needle from the little patio.
Confidential to the listing agent: pay for better photos!
Here are a few standouts from the 118 open houses in Seattle this weekend:
(there were 165 last week – apparently 50 real estate agents in Seattle are vaguely aware that there’s a large sporting event this weekend…)
515 1st Ave W #201 Sunday 11 am – 1 pm
Fresh on the market today, a two-bedroom corner unit in this quirky looking building in “energetic” Queen Anne. Doesn’t it look like it’s raising its left eyebrow at you mockingly? No? Just me? Right, then. Next listing!
200 17th Ave E #303
Sunday 1 – 4:30 pm
How about a corner unit in this “architecturally significant” building that’s been restored to its “youthful splendor”? It has arched doorways! Looks like they even staged it with a rotary phone to emphasize that it’s really old.
737 Olive Way Ph 1 Sunday 1 – 4 pm
Take a spin around the giantfreaking7milliondollarpenthouse at Olive 8 that we blogged about last week. Doesn’t that sound like more fun than the Superbowl? Maybe if you’re the only one who shows up they’ll let you try out the “deep soaking tub.” Bring your own bubbles!
2111 15th Ave S Unit A Saturday 1 – 4 pm
This Beacon Hill Townhouse is only five blocks from the light rail line. I like that the bottom floor is a private guest suite with its own entrance. Perfect for extended family whom you feel obliged to invite over but don’t really want to interact with.
321 Boylston Ave E #404 Sunday 1 – 4 pm
This fourth floor unit on Capitol Hill gets this week’s award for most expensive studio at $220,000 for 553 square feet. Although, from looking at the pictures, it seems like it’s closer to a one-bedroom with a really open floor plan. And it’s got a skylight over the bed so you can look at the stars after making whoopee. Awwww.
Back when I was younger and working at Microsoft I would head to Pagliacci Pizza on Friday nights before heading out to the bar. While scarfing down two slices of pizza and as much water as I could handle I’d catch up on what was going on in Seattle by reading the Stranger. These days I work late on Friday’s (well everyday), come home burnt out, collapse on the couch, don’t really eat, and then at 11 try and rally before last call. Needless to say, I don’t read the Stranger much any more. But I did do a quick skim through at lunch yesterday and spotted this article on Second and Pine, Black Hole 1: What The Last 20 Years Did to Second and Pine.
Reading the article I found out it took the 10 weeks to fill in the hole with 19,000 cubic feet of dirt from the Maple Leaf Reservoir. There was also a reflection of what’s transpired and what’s to come with development in Seattle:
This past building boom has transformed this city into at times unrecognizable form: alien blue glass awnings, Vegas-inspired neoclassical detailing. Sites that previously conjured pure potential now sit full and concretely mediocre, towering commitments of millions of dollars, thousands of hours of human concern clearly stated.
It’s somehow fitting that our very own Seattle City Hall is a viewing perch onto an even larger hole occupying an entire city block. From there it is apparent: We are in the midst of a period where little big will happen soon.
Let’s start off with a nice dose of schadenfreude, shall we? Someone bought this eighth floor one-bedroom unit at Mosler Lofts in December of 2007 for $310K, and just sold it last week for $275K. See? Your Monday’s not so bad. At least you’re not that guy.
Brix was on fire this week, selling threeseparateunits. Each of them sold for several thousand less than the prices currently listed for similar floorplans on their website. Anyone know if there was some sort of special going on last week? Or are they just negotiation happy over there?
Topping out the big spenders is this two-bedroom unit in Queen Anne development 200 West Highland. Their website says “for almost a century, prominent Seattle families have made their homes on West Highland Drive.” But there isn’t an etiquette school nearby! Where will they teach their children to have tea and crumpets with their noses in the air? Seriously, guys, get a less pompous copy writer. But, what do I know? I didn’t just sell a $900K unit.
29 on Stone is now completely sold out with the sale of this 3-bedroom townhouse for $287K. If only it was within walking distance of something besides Cyndy’s House of Pancakes and Big Star Beer Market…
There’s something about a dramatic concrete and steel loft that just twirls my skirt. This top floor one-bedroom unit is in the Braeburn Condos, built in 2006. Bamboo floors, 17-foot ceiling, and soundproof walls, all right next to Poco Wine Room. That was a steal, as far as I’m concerned, at $325,000.
I didn’t realize Olive 8 had such a monster penthouse. 4,300 square feet, 2 beds, 3.5 baths and an outdoor patio larger than my condo. All for only $6.9 million.
Rennie Marketing Systems out of Vancouver is doing the marketing and Team Builder JLS is the listing agent.
In his weekly newsletter Bill Hume at Team Builder JLS describes the changes:
The developers of Escala have created the big buzz in condo circles this week by hiring the incomparable urban condo guru, Bob Rennie of Rennie Marketing Systems, to revamp the marketing approach of this magnificent building. Bob, as usual, captures the tenor of the times in this sentiment about today’s pricing. Pricing is being completely readdressed and I think we have to address that the marketplace wants quality, not hyper-luxury. They want quality and value. The current Club Cielo portion of the community is being modified, as well.
“We’ve all been waiting for yesterday to come back,” said Bob Rennie, whose firm took over marketing of the 269-unit tower at Fourth Avenue and Virginia Street in November. “It’s time to make business decisions.”
Just five units have closed at Escala, according to county records. Rennie says 67 more buyers are under contract — but he knows that in this market, that doesn’t guarantee much.
They’ll all be contacted over the next few weeks and offered reduced prices as an inducement to stay, Rennie says without giving specifics. Escala’s developers also plan to scale back services at the building’s private club, he says, so high homeowners’ dues can be cut.
Meanwhile, the sales center has shut down. It won’t reopen until everything’s sorted out, perhaps by mid-March. “We’re trying to stabilize the building,” Rennie says.
This is a blog about Seattle condos with a focus on new construction. It's written by me, Matt Goyer (blog, Twitter). I own two condos (Meritage and Trace Lofts.)
This site is owned and operated by Urbnlivn Inc. and is in no way affiliated with my employer Redfin; I am not a real estate agent.
