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NYT on Amazon move to SLU

January 9th, 2008 · Comments · By Matt

Today the New York Times has an article on Amazon’s move to South Lake Union, Amazon Consolidates in Growing Area of Seattle:

If Amazon exercises all of its options, it may spend as much as $1.5 billion under a 16-year agreement to lease 11 buildings in South Lake Union, a lakefront neighborhood a little more than a mile north of downtown.

The article is not just about Amazon but takes a look at Seattle office space and South Lake Union in general:

Seattle’s mayor, Greg Nickels, who came to power in 2002 in the midst of a recession and promoted the redevelopment of South Lake Union as a jobs engine, bats away the complaints. To him, the city’s spending is producing great results. Already, he says, South Lake Union has created 7,000 jobs; 2.4 million square feet of office, laboratory, retail and hotel space; and 1,850 rentals and condos over the last four years.

The Seattle Times also has an article today on office rents, Office rents soar as new owners raise rates sharply:

Landlords were asking an average $38.51 per square foot for Class A, or premium, office space in downtown Seattle during the fourth quarter, up 30 percent from a year earlier, according to the report by commercial real-estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.

The Seattle Times also had an article on the downtown Bellevue condo scene, Bellevue condo tower opens this weekend:

“Washington Square is seeking to be different,” said Wasatch CEO Dell Loy Hansen. “We want to be the counterculture to the big-box names.”

I’m really curious as to how a big condo tower can be counterculture. Sounds like an oxymoron.

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Tags: NY Times · Seattle Times · Vulcan

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  • sceptic
    RE: Amazon
    It's only a 3 -3.5 mile move.
    Maybe change apartment, but
    Is it worth selling your home?
    This is a town where they commute from Auburn to Boeing Paine Field.
  • Peckhammer
    "I am just curious to how many residential units are projected to be built in the SLU."

    That's a good question. I wonder what happens to the millions of square feet vacated by the people moving to SLU, and the homes they may potentially vacate?
  • I am just curious to how many residential units are projected to be built in the SLU. That is a lot of office space, millions of sq/ft and with thousands of employees I am sure some of them will be able to afford to live in the general area.
  • I rest my case.
  • vc
    "Im really curious as to how a big condo tower can be counterculture. Sounds like an oxymoron."

    You're way off base. Big-box is Wal-Mart, Target, etc. The folks who shop big-box generally live in suburban, low-density, single-family homes. Condo living is modern and it is countercultural. It's suburban living that's "mainstream."
  • Im really curious as to how a big condo tower can be counterculture.

    I'm even more curious how a big condo tower in BELLEVUE can be counterculture. Downtown Bellevue is just a suburb with tall buildings. They are the definition of mainstream.
  • confused bitter stinking rente
    Walmart builds condos?
  • nitsuj
    "Im really curious as to how a big condo tower can be counterculture."

    My first thoughts as well. My only guess is Peets instead of SBUX, or maybe get crazy and go Stumptown, and call it good. Are there that many local businesses left these days that they could fill up their commercial space??
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