1 Hotel Residences Redesign

Several projects in the Belltown and downtown area are either on hold or converted to apartments. 1 Hotel Residences on the other hand is undergoing a redesign. The proposed redesign will eliminate 132 of the project's 176 individually owned condo-hotel suites. They will be replaced with 192 smaller, conventional hotel rooms (level 9th-14th). The heavily marketed City suites units will be located on the 15th and 16th level. The residential condominium units on the higher floors will not be affected. Read more.

-Wendy

Comments

[sam]

for the residential condos, are you allowed to rent on your own on a transient (short-term) basis due to the zoning of the building as a resort hotel?

[The MD]

Nope, you aren't allowed to rent the residential condos on your own on a short-term basis. I believe CCRs prohibit this action.

[Wendy]

MD is right. At this point a few of the condo buyers have asked the same question. Starwood might consider 1 or 2 of the residences for a Penthouse Rental, but it would be on a case by case basis. They discussed a 1 year commitment and the unit would be rented on a monthly basis only. So far, they have not received any request from homebuyers yet.

[Mike]

So how many condo units are going to be in the new design of the building and do you know how many have sold so far?

[Wendy]

There are going to be 192 hotel-owned rooms, 44 City Suites and 50 residential condominiums. So far, 24 of the City Suites and close to 50% of the residential condominiums are sold.

[The MD]

Seems odd there would be MORE condo units than City Suites. In fact, can any, for the life of me, explain from the DEVELOPER'S PERSPECTIVE WHY they are even considering keeping the City Suite concept? It just seems "gimicky" when you consider that you already have a hotel right under you. I understand "City Suites are a great investment opportunity," but they're really not if you crunch the numbers. They're a very tough sell, especially considering the market. Seems to me, it would be much faster, more efficient, and more apt to get loan approval from the banks if they would just go hotel on the lower floors and condos and the upper floors. City Suites actually DEVALUE the perceived quality of this project.