urbnlivn, a seattle condo blog

Vulcan’s PR Firm, Fearey group, sent over a bunch more pictures of Veer Lofts for those interested. View the album.

Roof top deck:

Den in the full loft:

Popularity: 16% [?]

We changed a whole bunch of things at Redfin today so blogging from me will be light. Read about our new site features and our service changes. Basically, you can now tour as much as you want and pick an agent up front.

If anyone has any juicy condo tips or something, email me.

Popularity: 13% [?]

I visited Trio a few weeks ago (the same weekend I visited Gallery.)

It was 75% sold and they want to move the rest of the units before the end of the year. To that end there is a 4% selling office commission instead of the usual 3%.

I don’t have much nice to say about Trio. The building felt cheap and the interior was dirty. In particular I don’t like the screens they use that have cutouts for the opener, the drywall/paint job looked bad, the intersection between the carpet and the baseboard is off, some outlet layouts weren’t that well considered, and weird Mosler style access panels etc.

What I did like, and that few developments do is that the common area is combined with the lobby.

Usually the common area is buried deep in the building and I suspect sees little action. With this model I can imagine it becoming a real hub for the community.

View all my photos.

Popularity: 14% [?]

I really have to see if I can get a tour of those Four Seasons condos.

The hotel portion is now open, Four Seasons Hotel opens in downtown Seattle:

Rates for the new hotel begin at $365 per night, and range up to the presidential suite, which rents for $5,000 a night. The new hotel includes the Art Restaurant and Lounge.

Update: Kate’s doing PR for Fran’s Chocolates who just opened a 1,100 square foot shop at the Four Seasons today. She sent in some photos of the shop including this, dare I say, slightly creepy, mosaic made of truffles:

Update 2: I guess I’m not cool enough to get invited to media events. However, Cindy Zetts, Seattle Times editor, is and posts a picture of the closest of a model condo at the Four Seasons, Check out this real-estate porn:

There are 11 units left to sell, from 1,350 square feet to 7,500 square feet and priced from $2 million to $15 million.

Update 3: James managed to get the tour and has lots of photos of the model unit.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Tonight for dinner we visited Pizza Fusion at their Trace North Capitol Hill location. It was their first night open to the public.

The interior features lots of recycled stuff. The chairs and tables are from Sunset Bowl, the hardwood from a school, the brick is recycled too, etc. For delivery vehicles they are even using Priuses and bikes. And they’re offsetting their power consumption with carbon credits at a wind farm.

Dinner for two was $40. We had a custom pizza with a brownie for dessert (we puzzled over how they made it since its gluten free and vegan.)

I’ll definitely be going back as I’m a big fan of thin crust pizza and you can’t beat a place so close.

Their hours are now 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. but once they get the kinks worked out they’ll have a grand opening party and extend their hours on Friday and Saturday nights to 2 a.m.

View all my photos.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Top posts for October:

1. It’s been a bad month: Lots of layoffs :(
2. The tool on Seattle construction
3. Photos of Seventeen07
4. A look at Seventeen07’s marketing campaign
5. Live Historic goes apartments

And a big thanks to our sponsors:

• Yalnes - Condo association management company
• Liz Attebery - Photos for your condo walls
• Cryptic Bindings - Seattle’s #1 horror story

Popularity: 9% [?]

There’s no better way to spend a rainy day than checking out real estate.

Our first stop was to Veer Lofts. This weekend was Veer’s “opening weekend.” The first units closed three weeks ago and now about 15 units have moved in. They’re currently at 56% sold of 99 units. The just under a million dollars penthouse sold last week.

Unfortunately Vulcan doesn’t allow photography of their sales center or buildings so I have no photos to post. If you’re a recent Veer Lofts purchaser please send us some pictures! Or invite us over :).

Photography silliness aside I really like how the full loft units turned out. One of the reasons they look so much better than the flexi’s is that the full’s have a different kitchen finish package. The flexi/flat finish package has the laminate banana/counters that I really don’t like. I did notice that the drywall job in some units didn’t look that great. But I was glad to see that they included light junction boxes on the ceiling. They also aren’t including window coverings so people will be shocked to find out how much it costs to get window coverings.

We saw three full high sixth floor units:

#606, an east facing unit. 1075 s.f. at $640,000: The east facing units have a great view of Lake Union. Unfortunately you know it’s going to in two to five years, but in the meantime, it’s great. It has a balcony plus two zen gardens that you crawl out a window to. Perfect for nude sunbathing on those rare sunny days in the summer. Or for growing a private collection of… I didn’t like how the staircase in this one was right in the middle of the unit though.

#607, a south east corner unit. 980 s.f. at $650,000. Also has a great view of the Lake and a view of downtown and the Space Needle. Much less storage space than #606.

#618, is a west facing unit. 1013 s.f. for $560.

The also have one flat left and a bunch of flexi’s. One of the flexi’s we looked at had a huge downstairs if you didn’t mind the four and half foot high ceiling in the flex space. The flexi’s start in the upper $300’s and go to mid $400’s.

Keep in mind that at Veer Lofts you can’t rent out your unit for 18 months and no re-sales for nine.

Update: Thanks to readers for sending him some photos. Here’s one of a flexi:

Popularity: 13% [?]

SeattleScape has had two great posts recently, About those sidewalk closures… and Street life? What street life?

I totally agree. I hate sidewalk closures. 1111 E Pike and that new commercial building on Madison just before the bridge to downtown bug me on a daily basis. I’d also love to see open sidewalks, no more metal enclosures and more street vendors.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Any Urbnlivn buyers purchase at Veer Lofts in South Lake Union? This just in from Vulcan:

We’d like to invite you to come down THIS WEEKEND and tour Veer Lofts on Saturday, November 1st and on Sunday, November 2nd from 11:00am to 6pm (located at 401 9th Avenue North and Harrison Street).

I’m going to head down tomorrow to check it out. Maybe I’ll see you there!

From the photos it looks like it turned out well:

See all five photos.

And it’s odd since they have only sold about 50% of their inventory that they only have one unit on the MLS and the listing despite being only 9 days old doesn’t even have good photos.

Popularity: 12% [?]

2200 Loft

Looking for a loft-y unit in South Lake Union? 900 Lenora St #W102 is apparently very different from it’s neighbors:

This is not your ordinary cookie cutter condo! More than $50,000 in custom upgrades. Modern unit has 15′ ceilings, loft style bedroom, excellent light and open feel. Custom features include: 36′ pro range, A/V wiring w/ whole house deluxe audio system, 3 built-in flat panel TV’s, slab granite counters, spectalular fireplace, custom office space, glass & steel staircase, and custom millwork!

Here’s a photo of the living room:

Speaking of 2200, there are still unlived in units just hitting the market. Take a look at #W500. Built in 2006 and likely won’t be lived in until 2009.

615 E Pike Price Drop

This is two week old news but #406 came back on the market at $774,000. It was previously listed at $889,000. I should go visit this unit on the weekend…

81 Vine Short Sale Loft

There’s not many short sale condos in Seattle (yet?). Here’s one of the few, 81 Vine #208 in Belltown. The price started off at $289 but has jumped to $329 after only a few days on the market. Too much interest?

Looks nice but remember, short sales TAKE FOREVER. Redfin has very strict short sale guidelines and our success rate is still less than 2%.

Cristalla Price Drop

Someone really wants to sell #101 at the Cristalla in Belltown. They just dropped the price from $495 to $399. Now making it the cheapest on a $/sq ft basis.

Popularity: 16% [?]