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Live Historic / Pioneer Property Struggling?

December 15th, 2008 · Comments · By Matt

Seattlest has the scoop, Live Historic aka Pioneer Property Not Paying Bills:

Pioneer Property creditors received notice from the group’s bank over the weekend of the group’s bankruptcy filing that their bills are not being paid.

I’m trying to but haven’t confirmed the story.

If it’s true, this is a bummer. I toured De Lorges and Marlborough and both of them were nicely done. I feel for the people who purchased at their buildings since it looks like sales have not gone well. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens. I suspect The Press condo auction won’t be the last condo auction.

Buildings affected with sales pulled from King County Records:

  • Queen’s Court at 124 Warren Avenue N (Queen Anne.) 13 of 34 units sold.
  • The Pittsburgh at 125 Warren Avenue N (Queen Anne.) 16 of 31 units sold. (Listed under 117 John St in the county records.)
  • The Nord at 312 First Avenue South (Pioneer Square.) 6 of 7 units sold.
  • The Marlborough at 1220 Boren Ave (First Hill.) 0 of 82 units sold.
  • De Lorges at 325 Harvard Avenue E (Capitol Hill.) 1 of 27 units sold.
  • Dayton 4420 Dayton Avenue North (Fremont.) 0 of 8 units sold.

Overall, they’ve only sold 20% of their available inventory and some of those projects they’ve been working on for a while.

Bonus link: Seattle PI blog, Apartment market not so hot, report says:

Dupre + Scott forecast in September that market vacancy (not counting new construction in lease-up) would rise from 4.8 percent this fall to nearly 6 percent by early 2010. They now say it will peak at 7.3 percent in June 2010 but won’t get back into balance until early 2012.

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  • betsyowner
    They did sell out one of their projects, the Betsy Ross. I bought a unit last summer. There are some minor issues with the quality of the remodeling work but I emphasize, they are minor issues.
    The building has great bones and on the whole, the quality is a lot better than most new construction.
  • ella
    I concur. But at what price?

    If the developer had listed the units for far less then they would have sold.

    This developer overprice the units for the current market. Simple

    Don't negate the cost of old infrastructure. Although, it will hopefully never be wrapped for a ES redo.
  • nitsuj
    Love their buildings far more than most of the generic new construction over the past 10+ years.
  • dave
    that is a shame...we looked at the QA buildings a couple of years ago and really liked what this developer was doing.
  • stone
    I really liked the malborough. I liked the DeLorges, but it was outside want I wanted to spend for the space. Awesome location. From everything I read they actually did update plumbing, etc. QA is an expensive neighborhood in general and for historic buildings - make changes like adding elevators or parking you're going run up against preservation issues and costs. I'm not sure when the city enacted its particular rules related to new development and parking requirments, but old bldgs as a rehab don't have to meet those new requirements.
  • Jason
    I don't know, I'd take my chances on a 1920s brick buildng than one of those 90s/early 00s stucco & siding montrosities anyday. Seems to be those are the ones always periodically covered in plastic fighting mold or other rot problems due to developers cutting corners. At least with a 1920s brick building you know the "bones" are solid.
  • ella
    Last summer while in North Tacoma, we saw flags advertising "Live Historic". Could it be the same company?

    We tour some of the properties on QA and found them to be very expensive. I am not surprised that the company had a hard time selling it units.

    I was never able to find out just how much of the mechanical infrastructure was updated. Moving into a building with historic plumbing, electrical and insulation can be a costly proposition.

    We always thought that the company was out to make a fast buck. No parking, no elevators and uncertain infrastructure updates.
  • Mike2
    (not counting new construction in lease-up)

    Existing properties full of tenants are going to see a 4+% rise in vacancy rates - new properties on the other hand...?
  • Jason
    I have to say Live Historic did a great job of rehab plus keeping the beautiful, vintage look of the building. I'm a little sad these folks are feeling the crunch right now when so many shitty, ugly new condos got in there over the last few years. The Marlborogh reminds me of those gorgeous NYC co-ops
  • Dan C
    Agreed...a good rehab can turn out well. My question is, did they put in the time to do it well? I have never seen any of these buildings.

    I would be concerned about seismic issues in those buildings...wouldn't want to lose my place in the next big shake.
  • phil on qa
    Sad news, but I had noticed the very slow sales at the lower QA sites. Company seems to do a great job, but doing a good rehab costs a lot of money and time.
  • uwp
    Those were some interesting projects. I wonder what happens now.
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