I’m glad to see that our building recently installed a railing to get them off the ground and have not look unsightly.

It’s a small thing, but a nice touch.

Note to developers: please consider how your units will be resold in the future and include little features like this.

What makes the #205 and #305 floor plans so sweet is the exposed brick wall with steel. The light fixture they installed is also very nice (we need a light fixture for our dining table still…):

The possible downer with this floor plan is the lack of windows. But what few windows there are, the west facing ones fortunately capture the Space Needle, and the windows open onto two small decks:

There’s been two re-sales at Trace. One at $490/sq. ft. in January and one $438/sq. ft. last week making this unit looking priced to sell at $438/sq. ft.

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Current average appraisal:

$377,857

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Trace Lofts

#506 from $594,950 to $499,950. Now $635/sq. ft.

#407 from $399,950 to $369,950. Now $526/sq. ft.

#406 from $449,950 to $399,950. Now $507/sq. ft.

Trace North

Trace North has also cut prices on some units:

#617 from $239,950 to $229,950. Now $487/sq. ft.

#515 $369,950 to $334,950. Now $518/sq. ft.

#618 $499,950 to $454,950. Now $566/sq. ft.

#403 $424,950 to $399,950. Now $497/sq. ft.

This is what the sales team has to say:

Trace is located at the heart of the Pike/Pine Triangle neighborhood on Capitol Hill, and scores a near-perfect 98 on www.walkscore.com. Earlier this week it was announced that downstairs neighbors Tavern Law and Barrio will be joined this summer by The Local Vine, a wine bar and restaurant.

Trace is over 70% sold and ready for immediate move-in and approved for 3.5% down FHA financing. There’s just two weekends left to shop for a home and qualify for the Federal Tax Credit for First-Time Buyers, up to $8000 for qualified buyers who enter into contract by April 30, 2010.

Four model homes are open Friday through Mondays 12 to 6 p.m. For more information contact Stacy Phipps, 206.404.LOFT or sphipps@matrixrealestate.com. www.tracelofts.com

Disclaimer: I own at Trace Lofts.

As Trace Lofties we can’t wait to have that space occupied again! And as a wine ignoramus perhaps I’ll go take a class and learn a thing or two :).

Ted also reports that the conditions at Whistler are “epic”. While my buddies are ditching work tomorrow to ski Steven’s Pass I’ll be working. (Though, I am headed to Denver for the weekend and hope to get some skiing in there, plus catch an Avs game.)

Capitol Hill Housing is helping organize a free community tour of Trace Lofts next Monday, March 29th at 3pm. This condominium building is 70% sold with many great view homes left, and Trace would like to invite the neighborhood to tour these homes before they are sold out. The tour will also include a look inside the retail spaces on the ground floor.

Trace Lofts is located at 12th Avenue and Madison Street and incorporates the 90-year old Bekins Storage building as well as a new building to the north.

Please meet at the Trace North Sales Office at 1414 12th Avenue #203. Dial 003 from the buzzer outside.

RSVP to Cecelia Gunn at 206-204-3832 cgunn@chhip.org

Trace North is about 70% sold and Trace Lofts has 5 units still owned by the developer and there are 3 re-sales on the market.

Disclaimer: I live here (#201, south-west corner unit) and love it!

First up is a live/work unit at the Klee. My friend Ming bought the live/work unit that last came on the market there a year or so ago. I definitely like the live/work units at the Klee more so than the rest of the units. Must be their tall ceilings, open floor plans, concrete floors and ceilings. This 971 square foot unit is listed at $425k.

Next up is a unit in our building, Trace Lofts, #207 just down the hall from us. $335k for 672 square feet.

And finally check out the “sophistcated lighting” at 2021 1st Ave #E6:

I knew you’d love it!

We’re hoping that by having a number of people report the problem we can put some pressure on the city to fix the problem sooner.

Here’s the streetlight trouble report form. Some of the affected lights are numbers 1406, 1410, 1412, 1414 and 1416 along 12th.

Thanks for your help.

Emails flew back and forth and it was pointed out to us that we should have read what we were signing a little more closely when we bought our places:

From our condo declarations:

9.7 Declarant’s Signage Easement. The Declarant reserves the right to install, maintain, repair, replace and remove advertising signs on the exterior wall of the east side of the Building and to have reasonable access to such portions of the Building for such purposes and may penetrate the east wall of the Building with any type of attachment hardware necessary to affix said signs to the Building. Such signage shall comply with applicable City ordinances but shall otherwise not be subject to the signage restrictions in this Declaration. Said right may be exercised continuously or intermittently and may be assigned by the Declarant to any person.

I spoke to the declarant at the Tavern Law party on Tuesday and word is that the Starbucks banner will be up for only two months and then who knows what. Hopefully(?) the Precision Tune apartments will be blocking that wall soon.

It’s about time! One of the appeals to me of buying at Trace was the promise of living above restaurants and bars. Unfortunately it’s taken them two years to open the bar. The bar was previously known as Gun Club and was to be opened by Michael Klebeck but that got called off last year, then nine months ago the Spur team announced they’d be running the bar.

They’ve been working furiously on the space since April. When I peaked my head in Monday I didn’t think they’d make the Tuesday party, there were boxes sprawled everywhere and workers were bustling about, but they did.

The space has a main floor as well as a private room upstairs. The stairwell to the upstairs is lined with risque photos.

Here’s the (air conditioned) upstairs lounge:

The cocktails were strong with names like “East India” and “Gun Club”. So good that at midnight there was someone sprawled on the floor of the Trace Lofts lobby completely passed out. There wasn’t much in the way of food, but I heard they’ll be rotating their food menu weekly and dishes will be priced under $15.

Look for Tavern Law to open this Friday or Saturday. I can’t wait!

Here’s my photos. But the official party photos are much better.

In other Trace news #402 at Trace Lofts is being re-sold. It originally sold for $515k June 2008 and is listed at $549k. It’s a 820 square foot unit, essentially a studio. I actually really like the floor plan [pdf] plus it’s west facing but $670/sq. ft. seems a little pricey.

The marketing remarks mention it is one of the first re-sales. I believe it is the second re-sale, though the first re-sale was canceled and didn’t actually sell.

I was also asked recently by a reader named Chloe about my recommendation for buying at Trace. I’m clearly biased having bought at Trace Lofts instead of Trace North. For me, I’m a fan of west facing units plus I’m a fan of the mix of old and new. My unit at Trace Lofts has exposed brick, the original ceilings, floors from an old factory in Portland, exposed earthquake reinforcement and an old elevator door. However, the units available today at Trace are all on the 4th and 5th floors which are the new floors. These new floors still have the same floors and have fir ceilings and have the bonus of having a deck (I wish I had a deck). I’d take a unit with real wood floors and ceilings over the drywall and cork of Trace North any day. But, the $/square foot is considerably higher at Trace Lofts and the only west facing unit is a pricey two bedroom.

So, if you’re looking for something that’s a better value, west facing, still in the thick of things of Capitol Hill, Trace North has a lot to offer. I’m also a big fan of the one bedroom + den floor plans but looking at the availability they’re sold out :(. If I were to buy a Trace North today I’d seriously consider the west facing sixth floor units as they have nice tall ceilings, for instance #603.