Comments on: Condo Chatter

By: michael norquest

michael norquest — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 17:55:35 +0000

I walked by the location of the proposed Insignia Condo project and yes, as you indicated, the sign was freshly painted over and the structural steel that had been stacked on one side of the lot had been removed. Back in the day, the site had been occupied by the now defunct Fredericksen Cadillac (later also Range Rover) dealerships and service location. I drove a Cadillac Seville there several times for servicing and the business, like Olsen Cadillac on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco, was patronized by the old money crowd there and ditto for Seattle’s old money establishment. A sign of the times that the younger up and coming crowd of Seattle’s trendsetters and blue blood heirs probably wouldn’t think of a Cadillac as their first choice for a luxury purchase; witnessed by the steady stream of Audi, BMW and Mercedes vehicles that are seen around downtown and the close in neighborhoods. There seem to be neighborhood blocks on upper Queen Anne where the lack of a late model Audi might be construed as a sign of economic distress—-is that person sneaking off for a weekly visit to a food bank?

Michael N.

By: jcricket

jcricket — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:15:47 +0000

It’s also interesting that deep-pocketed and not over-leveraged RE investment companies are continuing to build, I’m assuming, to be “ahead” of the next expanding market.

This assumes the “inventory glut” smooths itself out of the market in 2 or 3 years (i.e. by 2010 or 2011, the time when a lot of these projects come on the market).

Will be interesting to see if that’s how it happens.

By: jcricket

jcricket — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:04:43 +0000

Looks like the Clise family waited too long to sell off their land. I’d be surprised if they made 2/3rd of what they were hoping for a the peak.

It’s too bad, really. A “downtown” Seattle that stretched from Pioneer Square through South Lake Union with combinations of residential, retail and offices all throughout would have been really nice.

By: Ben_Kakimoto

Ben_Kakimoto — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:54:09 +0000

I don’t have a lot of info. 7th & Westlake was a joint venture between Clise and Murray Franklyn and I was notified by a MF principal that the project won’t be moving forward. But, that’s not to say Clise won’t be doing something else with the property in the future. On the other hand, MF is looking at developing another condo project in Belltown.

By: cosmo seattle

cosmo seattle — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:55:03 +0000

hi ben – 7th & Westlake is the latest casualty? any details?