The Seattle Condo Blog | Seattle Condos and Lofts

So far, 2012 is becoming a watershed year for Seattle’s beleaguered condo market as we’ve quietly shifted into a seller’s market seemingly overnight with a constricting inventory supply and strong buyer demand.  As a result, the remaining new construction and condo conversion projects have benefited from the market’s turnaround.

Here’s a look at the 2012 year-to-date sales activity and the current total sales percentage of the remaining major condominiums in Seattle.

North Seattle

Hjarta

Duncan Place

Downtown Core

Marselle

Olive 8

Escala

1521 Second

Four Seasons Seattle

Pontedera

Capitol Hill / First Hill

 Decatur

1111 E Pike

Harvard & Highland

Sanctuary

West Seattle

Dakota

Pontedera Condominium – Downtown / Central

The Pontedera Condominium, situated just south of Downtown Seattle at 827 Hiawatha Place just reduced prices significantly on a number of units. The price drops range from $10,000 up to nearly $60,000 per unit! Good thing, too, since there’s only been 18 closed sales out of 102 unts, with only 2 sales in the past year, per NWMLS & county records.

It’s a shame really since Pontedera was nicely designed and accented, plus it’s conveniently located to downtown, Capitol Hill and the International District. Home prices start from $174,900 and there are several incentives and programs geared to first-time and lower income home buyers, including down payment assistance, property tax exemptions for qualified buyers and no HOA dues for a year. Its worth checking out.

View available Pontedera Condo homes for sale

1111 E Pike Street – Capitol Hill

The Tom Kundig designed 1111 E Pike Street Condominium is down to the final three homes for sale. The uniquely designed boutique condo building is located in the heart of Capitol Hill’s trendy and vibrant Pike Pine Triangle. Homes start from $314,950. Own for less than comparable Cap Hill apartments rent for!

View the last remaining 1111 E Pike condos for sale

Hjarta Condominium – Ballard

Ballard’s green constructed concrete and steel Hjarta Condominium reports they are now over 75% sold. Per NWMLS records, Hjarta closed 25 units, just over 30% of its homes in 2011.

Hjarta is located at 1530 NW Market and is one of only two new constructed condominiums in Ballard. Hjarta’s new home prices start from $264,950.

View Hjarta condos for sale

Marselle Condominium – Lower Queen Anne / South Lake Union

The Marselle Condomium report they have sold 100 homes, or 75%, since opening, with 21 home sales in 2011. Marselle features a variety of floor plans ranging from open one-bedrooms to 2-story three-bedroom penthouses with soaring ceilings.

Marselle is located at 699 John Street in the shadow of the Space Needle…a great place to call home for those who work in downtown or South Lake Union. Home prices begin from $199,990.

View Marselle condos for sale

Danielle Condominium – Ballard

Ballard’s other new construction condominium, the Danielle, is down to its final three homes for sale — 2 one-bedroom units and a two-bedroom. Located at 5803 24th Ave NW, it’s close to Ballard’s many shops, restaurants and attractions. The remaining homes range from $219,950 to $479,950.

View Danielle condos for sale

Phase 2 of the Hjarta development by Pryde+Johnson has been conditionally approved by the city’s Department of Planning and Development. Hjarta II is a sister development of the adjacent Hjarta Condominium in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood.

According to the land use application Hjarta II will be a 7-story building containing 102-residential and 4-live/work loft units with parking for 86 to 106 vehicles. While Hjarta II was originally conceived as a second phase to Hjarta Condominium, the current application is for apartments. Given the slow sales pace at Pryde+Johnson’s last two condominium projects (Hjarta and the Florera at Green Lake, which is predominately rentals) it’s not surprising the present plan is for apartments.

On the other hand, Ballard, like Capitol Hill and downtown, has several apartment buildings in the pipeline including massive developments at old Sunset Bowl, Denny’s and the old library sites, among others. If Hjarta II is built, by the time it’s completed, Ballard may very well have a glut of rentals and could be primed for additional condo units. Who knows.

Read the DPD conditional approval decision notice
View the Hjarta II proposal (pdf)

Images courtesy of Weber Thompson

It Came From Outer Balcony

The Seattle Times reported that glass panels have fallen from the balconies of Seattle’s most exclusive condominium, the Four Seasons Private Residences. Three times in the past year.

It happened again Sunday, the third time in a year that glass has rained down from condominium balconies at the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences just south of Pike Place Market.

Now the owners are taking out all 300 tempered-glass panels in the building, panels similar to those that fractured and fell this summer at high-rise condos in Austin and Toronto.

Counting reading at the Seattle Times.

The South End Shall Rise Again…eventually

Sales at the Burien Town Square condominium project was supposed have gotten off the ground on August 1st.  It didn’t. Then by late August.  It didn’t.

The latest update from various sources indicate a possible a mid-to-late September re-launch, but even that’s not certain. It’s a great project and there aren’t many options for the south end buyers…hopefully they’ll get things rolling soon.

The Endgame Cometh

A number of condominium projects have the finish line in sight and are racing to close out sales by the end of the year, some with substantial price reductions.

At Mercer Island’s 7800 Plaza Condominium four homes remain, which were recently reduced $50,000 to $75,000. The concrete and steel constructed building features two-bedroom luxury homes that are now available from $449,500 to $674,500. View units for sale.

The resort inspired Point Edwards Condominium in Edmonds is down to its last three homes, and they too, have taken huge price drops…up to $100,000. The three unsold new units range from $349,950 to $994,950. On the other hand, there are seven competing resales currently available at Point Edwards. View units for sale.

A conversion project in Bellevue, the Riverstone, is down to its last home. Unit #100 is an 803 square foot one-bedroom available for $157,500. It features slab granite counters in the kitchen, stainless steel appliances and an enclosed patio. The complex is FHA approved. View listing details.

Back in Seattle, three home units went under contract in August at the Enso Condominium in South Lake Union. With those pending, there are now seven units remaining including a two-level penthouse home, though only four units are listed in the MLS. View Enso condos for sale.

Ballard Days of Summer

The two condo buildings with available developer inventory in Ballard are the Danielle and Hjarta. Between the two, they’ve sold (closed) nine homes since June 1st…three at Danielle and six at Hjarta. That’s pretty good. Though, there hasn’t been a sale at either project in the past 3 weeks, neither have any pending sales.

View Hjarta condos for sale

View Danielle condos for sale

Disclosure: Hjarta 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.

Hjarta, Phase 2

Pryde + Johnson has filed a land use application the 2nd phase of its Hjarta development in Ballard. The phase 2 building will be on the backside of the existing building and will front NW 56th Street. I’ll update further when more information is available. View the land use bulletin

Trace North & Trace Lofts

Trace North sold another 5 units in the past three weeks and is now down to its final 3 units for sale. www.tracelofts.com

• #418: One-bedroom, 804 square feet offered at $354,950
• #519: Open one-bedroom, 614 square feet offered at $274,950
• #502: Open one-bedroom, 610 square feet offered at $264,950

Plus, there’s a resale unit that’s listed at $199,950. Due to MLS restrictions I can’t tell you about it, but you can view more info about the resale and the other 3 units here.

Trace Lofts is down to its last unit, #407, which is a 703 square foot open one-bedroom facing south with its own deck. It is currently listed at $324,950 – View listing

Harborside Condominium

Slightly outside and a ferry ride away from Seattle is the Harborside Condominium in Bremerton. The Harborside is located on the waterfront just a couple of blocks from the ferry terminal. The two building development has a number of great units available with prices that are 40-50% below their 2007 prices when the project was completed.

Prices start at $255,000 for one-bedroom homes (from 913 square feet), from $309,000 and up for large two-bedrooms and $759,000 for a 2,642 square foot three-bedroom penthouse suite.

www.harborsidecondominiums.com

Joseph Arnold Lofts

For those keeping track of the Joseph Arnold Lofts apartment project in Belltown, the design review board meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 10th at 5:30 pm at Seattle City Hall. The Joseph Arnold Lofts will be adjacent to two condo buildings – The Klee and Bellora. View land use bulletin

Olive 8 & Escala

Sales seem to be tapering off for both downtown Seattle condo buildings. Since March 1st (over the past 8 weeks) there were 6 new purchases (contracts accepted) between them, 2 at Olive 8 and 4 at Escala. Three of those were over $1 million.
www.Olive8.com   |    View Olive 8 units for sale
www.somethingischangingatescala.com   |    View Escala units for sale

Queen’s Court

After Matrix took over the Queen’s Court condo development last September sales have been brisk with 12 homes sold so far, leaving just 2 homes remaining. Both are 509 square foot studios priced at $149,950 and $154,950. Queen’s Court is a 2007 conversion located near the Seattle Center in Lower Queen Anne.

It’s time to spring forward and change your clocks. Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday – March 13th – at 2:00 AM in the morning…so remember to set your clocks ahead by one hour.

1350 Alki
It has taken nearly three years to sell out the 10-unit 1350 Alki condo development, but the end is seemingly in sight. The pending offer on unit #S5 last week now leaves two units available. Unit #3S is a 3-bedroom 1,425 square foot unit listed at $559,950, which is 34% less than its original $849,000 price in 2007. However, that’s a tad bit high considering that #4S sold 6-months ago for $560,000. Unit #2N is a slightly smaller 3-bedroom 1,325 square unit listed at $499,950. That’s 35% below its original $769,000 offer price. View 1350 Alki condos for sale.

Gallery Condo Buy Now Event
Word is the Gallery Buy Now event was a “disorganized mess” that resulted in the sale of just 8 of the the 25 units offered. Although Schnitzer totally botched the auction/buy now event, and perhaps lost some goodwill in the process, the Gallery Condominium is a great building and does offer value for new construction in the downtown/Belltown area. View Gallery condos for sale.

1521 Second
The 1521 Second Condominium is hosting another open house event this weekend, March 12th & 13th, from noon to 4:00 pm. The open house provides the public an opportunity to tour some of Seattle’s most luxurious, and expensive, condos. View 1521 Second condos for sale.

Hjarta Condominium
The Hjarta Condominium in Ballard sold another 4 units since our update last month. View Hjarta condos for sale.

Trace North
The Trace North development on Capitol Hill recently passed the 90% sold level. It has been a long time coming given that pre-sales started back in early 2007. Since our last update 3 weeks ago, 4 additional homes were sold at Trace North, leaving less than 10 homes available for purchase. View Trace North condos for sale.

Escala Condominium
Since the beginning of the year, Escala has closed 11 transactions with another 8 homes pending. Per the NWMLS, to date, Escala has 88 sales with 75 of those closing, so they’re just under 1/3 sold with 181 homes available. View Escala condos for sale.

Disclaimer: Advertisers of The Seattle Condo Blog at time of publication include Hjarta, 1521 Second & Trace North.

Judging by the reports from a number of condo developments in the area, as well as our own experience, condo sales activity is picking up.

As noted in our earlier post about Bellevue Towers, so far this year they’ve got 18 sales under contract and another 11 offers under review.

The historic Queens Court conversion is starting to see movement with 4 homes selling last month, leaving only 6 units available between $149,950 and $174,950.

The Hjarta Condo development in Ballard took in another 10 sales in the past two months. Homes at Hjarta start from $259,950.

Downtown Seattle’s luxury condo tower, Fifteen Twenty-One, is hosting a Designer Home Series open house this weekend from noon to 4 pm on Saturday 2/12 and Sunday 2/13. The development is now 75% sold.

Back on the Eastside, the One Main Street condo in downtown Bellevue sold another two homes this past weekend. Condo homes at One Main Street range from $319,000 to over $1.6 million and many homes are priced below $400,000.

First Hill’s Decatur Condominium reduced prices on a number of units last week.

The Danielle Condo in Ballard is reporting consistent sales so far this year.

The Fairview Condos in Mukilteo has 12 units available. If you remember, 20 of the 22 units sold at auction in November with 15 of those eventually closing. The remaining 7 unsold units plus a few others that were held back are now on the market, priced from $239,500 to $1,115,500.

The 200 West Highland Condominium on Seattle’s Queen Anne’s South slope reports that they’ve sold six homes since coming back on the market in November. Just 11 of the luxury condo homes remain.

www.200westhighland.com

Matrix is ready to close out the Trace North development on Capitol Hill with just 15 homes left! There’s a good mix of studio (1) , open one-bedroom (6), one-bedroom (3) and two-bedroom homes (5) available.

Additionally, prices were just reduced and homes now start at $209,950 and go up to $414,950.

Trace North

The Hjarta Condominium in Ballard reported they sold another 5 homes during the holidays and have revised prices with homes now starting from $259,950. The building is LEED Silver Certified and FHA approved.

www.hjartaballard.com

Mercer Island’s 7800 Plaza Condominium is 50% sold and prices have reduced since our last posting. This is a rare opportunity to own a new condo on Mercer Island.

www.7800plaza.com

Disclaimer: Hjarta and 7800 Plaza condos are advertisers of The Seattle Condo Blog.

This week’s condo digest includes another huge reduction at 744 Harvard, Marselle Condo’s sales and its 1521-esque homeowner testimonials, Hjarta’s relaunch and Matrix’s annual real estate survey.

First, if you didn’t catch it here, the 200 West Highland Condominium is coming back on the market, with a public relaunch event starting at 5 PM on Tuesday, November 16th. The Kendra Todd Group is now handling sales and marketing at the upscale project.

The Kendra Todd Group also took over the boutique 744 Harvard Condo project located in Capitol Hill’s renowned Harvard-Belmont neighborhood. Prices on the two remaining homes have been reduced up to $150,000. Unit #200 is now priced at $799,000 while the penthouse (#300) is available at $825,000. Both homes have been reduced approximately 57% since they first came on the market in 2008/2009.

The 132-unit Marselle Condominium development reports they are now 60% sold. They’ve recently started a new homeowner testimonial campaign on Facebook and Twitter, following in the footsteps of 1521 Second’s elegant promotion.

Ballard’s Hjarta Condominium hosted a broker’s open event on Wednesday drawing over 65 real estate brokers to celebrate its relaunch with Matrix Real Estate. Hjarta’s current prices reflect significant reductions.

Speaking of Matrix, they just released the results from their annual market survey. A few highlights from the 2010 survey include: 82% of respondents felt now is a good time to buy, though only 48% said they were considering buying within the next 24 months and 63% prefer to live in a denser close-in neighborhood with the ability to walk to amenities, but the majority preferred a single family house.

Interestingly, 49.9% of respondents felt prices will remain stable or improve in 2011, with only 23.4% believing prices will go down next year. Read the rest of the survey here.