The Seattle Condo Blog | Seattle Condos and Lofts

Last year’s top selling condominium development in the greater Seattle area, Bellevue Towers, is starting 2012 off with revised pricing on select home that are reduced as much as 40% from original list prices.

Homes now available for sale include studio and one-bedroom residences priced from the $300,000s, two-bedroom homes priced from the $600,000s, and spacious penthouses priced from $2 million.

Bellevue Towers’ homes range from 809 square feet to 6,398 square feet, representing some of the most generously sized condominium homes in the market and offering the best value on a per square foot basis.

View listed Bellevue Towers homes for sale

If more information or if you’d like to view Bellevue Towers, our Eastside condo specialists are here to help.

Sample pricing (click table below for the limited release pricing list):

The Bellevue Towers Condominium development topped the region’s new construction condo sales in 2011 with 144 sold and closed homes. Overall, the large twin-tower residential complex in downtown Bellevue is now 48% sold with 263 of its 539 homes sold.

The following is adapted from a press release:

BELLEVUE, WASH (January 13, 2012) – Bellevue Towers, the region’s largest urban condominium project, was also the region’s best selling condominium project in 2011 at 144 homes closed and sold since January 1, 2011. With sales of $88,940,000 – triple the volume of the closest, comparable project in the market – the cost for Bellevue Towers’ homes averaged $433 per square foot, representing the most attractive condominium value offered to buyers in the market. To date, the luxury, downtown Bellevue project has now sold a total of 263 homes and just this week sold two more $2 million plus homes.

“We chose to prioritize sales velocity and value for our buyers rather than wait for market demand and pricing to return to pre-2008 levels,” said Patrick Clark, principal with Realty Trust, the brokerage company marketing and selling the project.

Bellevue Towers’ remaining homes include studio and one-bedroom residences priced from the $300,000s, two-bedroom homes priced from the $600,000s, and spacious penthouses priced from $2 million. Original prices have been reduced on average by 30 percent, with a limited release of new homes reduced by as much as 40 percent from original pricing to generate strong momentum for the New Year.

Bellevue Towers consists of a 42-story North Tower and a 43-story South Tower with 539 total homes. Each tower offers its own lobby with dedicated concierge service, while sharing an array of other amenities. Residents of Bellevue Towers have access to a 24,000-square-foot urban garden nestled between the two towers, a private screening room, large dining room with terrace and chef’s kitchen, fitness center, spa and sun deck, and a great room that opens to an expansive outdoor terrace with fireplace and barbecue grill.

The project also features more than 300 original pieces from Northwest artists including Lucinda Parker, Julie Speidel and George Batho. Standard finishes in all Bellevue Towers homes include Viking or Wolf cook tops and ranges, Sub-Zero refrigerators, Bosch dishwashers, full-height granite kitchen-counter backsplashes and master bathrooms finished in marble or travertine. “It’s a fabulous building, not only because it’s green, but because it’s beautifully constructed, offers luxury amenities, and contains high-quality finishes and appliances,” said resident Michael Brandt.

View Bellevue Towers homes for sale

Trace North – Capitol Hill

Trace North is now sold out! The last developer unit, #502, went under contract this week and is now pending.

Fortunately, for those interested in Trace North there are a few resales available.

Enso Condominium – South Lake Union

Enso Condominium is about to close out sales with just two new homes remaining – units 702 and 1602. Both are NE facing (towards Lake Union) one-bedroom 769 square foot homes available at $410,000 and $460,000.

These are also Vulcan’s final two condo units from the last construction cycle, which will complete their foray into condominiums. Presently, Vulcan is reviving its Martin project in Belltown, but as apartments.

   >>  View available Enso condos for sale

1521 Second – Downtown

The 1521 Second tower has closed 117 units and is now over 84% sold. 1521 is a luxury condominium offering exquisite finished homes commanding spectacular city, Puget Sound and Olympic range views. Homes start from just under $1 million.

   >>  View available 1521 Second homes for sale

Olive 8 – Downtown

Olive 8 is now over 2/3 sold with more than 145 homes closed.

   >>  View available Olive 8 condos for sale

Four Seasons – Downtown

The uber-luxurious Four Seasons Private Residences is clinging on to its remaining 11 new homes…there hasn’t been a sale there all year (per NWMLS records). Most of the available homes under $3 million are on the 1st Avenue side facing the Russell Investments tower while the choice view homes start from just over $6 million.

   >>  View available Four Seasons homes for sale

Escala – Downtown

Downtown’s other remaining condominium tower, Escala, has closed 130 homes. That’s another 30 in the past two months, which brings the project to approximately 48% sold. New homes start from the low-$400,000s.

   >>  View available Escala condos for sale

The Decatur – First Hill

Since the switch in marketing firms, and in some cases, price increases, the Decatur has only closed 1 additional home. That leaves about 21 units remaining.

   >>  View available Decatur condos for sale

Marselle – South Lake Union / Queen Anne

Marselle reports they are over 70% sold and still have a variety of home options available from one-bedroom to two-story penthouses. Homes start from $219,990.

   >>  View available Marselle condos for sale

Bellevue Towers – Bellevue

Downtown Bellevue’s upscale Bellevue Towers continue to sell well with over 230 homes now closed and another 20 or so homes under contract, including two $2 million penthouses. That brings the massive twin-tower, LEED Gold Certified development up to 43% sold.

Wells Fargo is now offering financing at Bellevue Towers, which expects to receive Fannie Mae approval later this year.

   >>  View available Bellevue Towers homes for sale

One Main Street – Bellevue

Bellevue’s only other new condominium development, One Main Street, is also doing well with 70% of its homes sold. Prices start from $299,900 and is FHA approved.

   >>  View available One Main Street condos for sale

Hjarta – Ballard

Ballard’s Hjarta Condominium has also done well this year, they are now 70% sold. Homes in this green constructed concrete & steel building start from $274,950.

   >>  View available Hjarta condos for sale

Danielle – Ballard

The Danielle Condominium in Ballard reports they are over 60% sold. Homes at the Danielle start from the low-$200,000s.

   >>  View available Danielle condos for sale

Harvard & Highland – Capitol Hill

The Harvard & Highland Condominium has sold 76% of its luxury homes leaving 9 available. Tucked quietly away in Capitol Hill’s Harvard-Belmont district, Harvard & Highland offers sophisticated in-city living.

Through the end of October, Harvard & Highland is offering an additional broker bonus. We will rebate 2/3′s of the bonus ($10,000) if you use our associates to facilitate the purchase of a Harvard & Highland home by the end of October.

>>  View available Harvard & Highland homes for sale

 

Disclosure: 1521 Second, Olive 8, Marselle, Harvard & Highland and Hjarta are advertisers of Seattle Condos and Lofts.

Olive 8

Olive 8 had 8 additional sales in the past month bringing the total to 33 sales so far this year. Additionally, Olive 8 still have several “Sky Suite” homes available, which are full-furnished open one-bedroom homes by Alchemy Collections, and are a perfect downtown pied-à-terre.

>> View Olive 8′s active listings
>> Visit the Olive 8 website

Escala Condominium – Downtown Seattle

Escala fared a bit better with 12 sales in the past month and is now approximately 42% sold per MLS figures. Slow going, but moving forward.

>> View Escala’s active listings
>> Visit the Escala website

Bellevue Tower- Bellevue

Neither Olive 8 nor Escala have anything on Bellevue Towers, which closed its 200th home last week. That’s over 80 closed sales so far this year, bringing the twin-tower 539-unit complex to 37% sold.

>> View Bellevue Tower’s active listings
>> Visit the Bellevue Tower website

Enso Condominium – South Lake Union

Enso reported 4 sales in the past month and is now down to its last 8 homes, priced between $400,000 and $1,295,000. As a special for Seattle Condos and Lofts readers, we are offering a rebate up to $7,500 for the purchase of a new Enso home (by July 31st) through our condo specialists.*

>> View Enso’s active listings
>> Visit the Enso website

Gallery Condominium – Belltown

Gallery had 4 additional sales since our last update, which leaves 10 homes left. For homes purchased (under contract) before July 31, 2011 and closed by August 30, 2011, Gallery is offering:
  1.   A buyer bonus up to 3% of the purchase price
  2.   Choice of an optional wall, slider or closet combo build out

>> View Gallery’s active listings
>> Visit the Gallery website

Disclosure: Olive 8 and Gallery are advertisers of Seattle Condos and Lofts at the time of publication.

* Half of the selling agent bonus, dependent on lender eligibility and approval

One Main Street – Downtown Bellevue

The Bellevue condo market is starting to heat up with One Main Street reporting an additional 3 home sales. The boutique development, conveniently located near the Downtown Bellevue Park, is now 56% sold.

One Main Street offers a variety of home plans to choose from, ranging from a $329,900 open one-bedroom to a $1,609,900 spacious three-bedroom penthouse suite.

Visit the One Main Street website and blog
View One Main Street condos for sale

Bellevue Towers – Downtown Bellevue

Bellevue Towers continue to do exceptionally well, recording another 35 closed sales since May 1st…24 of those in May alone. That might be the highest single month closings for a new condo development we’ve seen in years.

Apparently, at least in the minds of the owners, sales are going so well that they’ve actually increased prices. The increases ranged from $3,000 to $25,000. While they may have sold over 100 homes this year alone, they still have approximately 400 more units to go. New home prices currently range from $316,000 to $5,499,000.

Visit the Bellevue Towers website
View Bellevue Towers condos for sale

Harvard & Highland – the Harvard Belmont District

The classical Harvard & Highland Condominium, nestled in Capitol Hill’s historict Harvard Belmont neighborhood, also reported three sales in May. These beautifully appointed homes are available from $995,000 to $2,350,000.

View the Harvard & Highland website
View Harvard & Highland homes for sale

 

 

Fairview Condos – Mukilteo

Following the Fairview condo auction in November, Matrix took over sales of the remaining twelve unsold units in February. Now, they’re down to the final three homes: 2 two-bedrooms priced at $354,500 & $364,500 and a three-bedroom penthouse that’s offered at $1,115,500.

Visit the Fairview Condos website
View Fairview condos for sale

The Enclave at Lake Union – Eastlake

The Enclave at Lake Union is re-awakening since we last heard from the marketing team last autumn. The developer is repositioning the project targeting homeowners seeking larger in-city waterfront homes.

“We’ve been patiently waiting for the market fundamentals to improve allowing construction to begin. We see an emerging opportunity to target those accustomed to the waterfront lifestyle but preferring to simplify their domestic responsibilities. The Enclave at Lake Union will deliver on all counts,” says Mike Yukevich, Investment Manager and partner at Trinity Real Estate, the developer of The Enclave at Lake Union.

The individual two-bedroom townhomes range in size from 2,500 to 3,000 square feet and are being presold from $1.3 million. The larger 5,200+ square foot, three bedroom “combined” residence is being offered from $2.995 million in an improved “vanilla shell” condition, meaning all the building systems (including elevators) and interior demising is constructed but the prospective homebuyer has the flexibility to specify the interior finishes. Alternatively, a fully finished home to the same luxury specification as the other homes is available turnkey at $3.395 million.

Visit the Enclave website
View Enclave homes for sale (presale)

Olive 8 Sky Suites – Downtown Seattle

Realizing an emerging market of out-of-towners looking for a second in-city Seattle home with resort amenities, Olive 8 is offering its remaining open one-bedroom condo homes (the ‘xx09′ and ‘xx10′ stack) fully furnished.

The turnkey furniture packages from Alchemy Collections is available with full price offers on the newly named open one-bedroom “Sky Suite Collection” homes, which start from $370,000.

Visit the Olive 8 website
View Olive 8 condos for sale

Disclaimer: At time of publication, Olive 8 is an advertiser of Seattle Condos and Lofts.

Hjarta Condominium – Ballard

To celebrate planting season, the Hjarta Condominium, is giving away annuals to the first 20 people to visit the building on Saturday, May 14th starting at 11:00 AM. And, to accommodate those attending the Ballard Artwalk, Hjarta will remain open until 7:00 PM on Saturday as well.

Hjarta is a green constructed, concrete and steel condominium, I believe the only one in Ballard. Sales are moving along with 5 more home sales in the past 30 days, 18 sales overall all since December. Residents at Hjarta will enjoy the growing season with their own roof-top P-Patch gardens. Hjarta is located at 1530 NW Market Street.

View the Hjarta website
View Hjarta condos for sale

<> Trivia bonus: Do you know where the “P-Patch” got its name? The answer is at the bottom of this post.

1521 Second – Downtown Seattle

The 1521 Second Condominium will be hosting an open house this weekend, May 14 & 15 from noon to 4:00 pm.

The public open house provides a great opportunity to tour one of Seattle’s most luxurious and prestigious residential towers, which is now 80% sold. The building is located at 1521 Second Avenue just around the corner from the Pike Place Market.

If you happen to go, then be sure to stop by the Pike Place Market for the Seattle Cheese Festival happening at the market this weekend.

View the 1521 Second website
View 1521 Second condos for sale

Escala Condominium – Downtown Seattle

With sales reaching the 100 unit mark Escala Condominium recently re-addressed pricing on a selection of one- and two-bedroom city-view homes.

Prices for one-bedrooms begin at $374,000 and two-bedrooms now start from $549,000. The Escala is located at 1920 4th Avenue at Virginia St.

View the Escala website
View Escala condos for sale

Downtown Bellevue Condos

Sales at Bellevue Towers are rocking with 68 homes closed or in escrow since the start of the year, of which 37 sales came during March and April alone.

The much smaller One Main Street Condominium, near the downtown Bellevue Park, is also experiencing better sales this year with 12 homes closed or in escrow so far. Presently, the building is just over 50% sold.

View the Bellevue Towers website    |    View Bellevue Towers condos for sale
View the One Main Street website    |    View One Main Street condos for sale

 

P-Patch trivia question answer

The ‘P’ commemorates the family who used to farm the area that became the first community garden in Seattle, the Picardo Farm P-Patch. This P-Patch was acquired from the Picardo family who ran a truck farm in the earlier part of the 1900s up in the Wedgwood neighborhood. When the city started up the P-Patch program in 1973, the ‘P’ was taken to commemorate the family.

According to an email from Bellevue Towers (website), they’ve seen a turnaround in sales activity since the ownership & pricing changes last month with 18 pending sales and 11 additional new offers.

This transition is a positive turning point for the development, its homeowners and the real estate community for a number of important reasons:

• Clear and stable ownership moving forward
• No plans to rent or auction
• Fully funded HOA reserves
• An adjustment in price of an average cumulative discount of 30% to further establish Bellevue Towers as the best luxury highrise value in the region

The new pricing at Bellevue Towers reflects an average cumulative discount of 30% from original list prices. Please click here for our current price list. A sample list of prices for our five main unit types are as follows:

• Studios from $310,000 to $400,000
• 1 bedrooms from $418,000 to $454,000
• 1 bedrooms w/study or den from $400,000 to $560,000
• 2 bedrooms w/study or den from $560,000 to $1,260,000
• Penthouses starting at $2,300,000

The demise of the Bravern is probably helping as well.

According to the Bellevue Reporter, a new investment group breaths life into the Bellevue Towers Condominium development.

As the original lead senior lender on the project, Morgan Stanley, along with its co-lenders, increased their investment in the project Thursday to consolidate ownership of the development, placing it on new financial footing. The ownership transition provides financial stability to continue to market and operate the property as remaining units are sold.

“This is good news for current and prospective homebuyers at Bellevue Towers, allowing the project to re-set pricing and move forward with the orderly retail sale of the remaining homes,” said Ira K. Glasser, adviser to the lending group concerning Bellevue Towers. “This investment in Bellevue Towers is an investment in downtown Bellevue and an investment in the community.”

Read more about this story at the Bellevue Reporter.

This could bode well for the twin-tower downtown Bellevue condo project. I had expected that it would follow the apartment conversion or condo auction route. Presently, Bellevue Towers has only closed 22% of its 539 condo units.

For this week’s condo digest I’m doing something a little different – highlighting the Facebook pages of current condo developments that are for sale. All of these pages were created and are maintained by the marketing/sales teams so they can get out of date when a development changes marketing firms. Though, for the most part they’re up to date with project and pricing updates, photos and neighborhood happenings.

In my opinion, the best are (1) the Verdeaux page with its great resident interaction, (2) the homeowner testimonials on Marselle page and (3) Trace Lofts/North’s fantastic Capitol Hill community updates.

1111 E Pike (withering away) – Condos on Capitol Hill.

7800 Plaza (current) – Condos on Mercer Island, now 50% sold.

Bellevue Towers (current) – Condos in downtown Bellevue.

Celine Place (current) – Townhomes in North Seattle.

Danielle (current) – Condos in Ballard.

Decatur (never got going) – Condos on First Hill.

Harvard & Highland (starting to fade) – Condos on Capitol Hill.

Marselle (current) – Condos near the Seattle Center.

Olive 8 (withering away) – Condos in downton Seattle. However, Hyatt at Olive 8 page is going strong.

One Main Street (current) – Condos in downtown Bellevue.

Point Edwards (current) – Condos in Edmonds.

Pontedera (current) – Condos in Seattle.

Sylvan Ridge (current) – Townhomes in West Seattle.

Trace Lofts & Trace North (current) – Condos and lofts on Capitol Hill.

Verdeaux (current) – Condos in Bothell.

And, you can find The Seattle Condo Blog on Facebook, too!   By the way, I tend to post more on our Facebook page than I do on the blog, so consider “liking” us to get more condo updates, news articles and community information.

Bellevue’s sleek twin Bellevue Towers condominium development has obtained FHA approval. This is rather significant in light of (1) this has always been marketed as an upscale, luxury condomionium and (2) FHA approval opens to door to a much larger pool of buyers for the project.

The current FHA loan limit is $567,000 and requires only a 3.5% down payment.

Additionally, Bellevue Towers reports nearly 20 additional home sales in the past three months. The project was designed to meet LEED Gold certification requirements and features outdoor green spaces and fantastic residential amenities. Commercial businesses that recently opened at Bellevue Towers include Purple Cafe and Barrio Restaurant.

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The Seattle Condo Blog