OT - RCKS, All the above, condos, apts, offices. A studio starts at 500K for 500 sq ft. It is bizarre, I looked out the other window and I can count 7 more cranes so a total of 17 cranes from just out of two windows. (7 cranes South facing and 10 cranes west facing.) The crappy thing is the builders don't care if they block other people's views, which pissed off the Westin Buisness Park bldg where I work and the two Westin hotel twin towers. My apt. complex blocks an old 1920 apt complex's view completely.
In terms of Single Family homes, most things downtown are tons of condos. Land is at a premium since we are surrounded by water on both sides. (Puget Sound and Lake Washington and South Lake Union.) So out of downtown it's a lot of townhouses everywhere. Not really any SFHs. May be you are right all of these were on the books before the downturn late last year. But Seattle started late on the housing boom compared to the rest of the U.S. Housing in Seattle didn't start til 2005 while other places of the Country was starting to peak.
They just keep building like the city is going to keep growing and recession hasn't affected Seattle which in my opinion is crazy. I've been living in Seattle for 10 months, and prices on homes, condos, townhouses has finally started to drop from the Q3 2007 peak. Prices has only dropped 6%.
One thing I have heard is that Amazon is moving down from Beacon Hill and has some sort of deal with Paul Allen in South Lake Union (just next to downtown) and also Paul Allen's latest real-estate venture. They are suppose to be leasing 10 blocks from what I hear. I think that is why there are a few cranes just southward facing. It's suppose to be a 5-6 year transition for Amazon.
Paul Allen is spending money like crazy down in South Lake Union. People call his projects SPAM (Spend Paul Allen's Money). A lot of his investments has been losing ventures, good thing he is rich from MSFT. Anyhow he spent $30million to clean up South Lake Union and to make it a park. He also spent close to $50 million for a stupid trolley that goes 1.3 miles. People call it the SLUT (South Lake Union Trolley) and then City council decided to change the name to streetcar instead of trolley. From what I hear they are trying to make Seattle like San Fran of the North instead of what people use to call it in the 70s as Anchorage of the South. I guess Seattle would still be a backwards shipping/logging company if it wasn't for Bill Gates who brought Tech here, and also is where he grew-up. IMO Seattle still has a bit to go before it can be called a major City like Wash D.C., NYC, SanFran, etc.
