Wendy Leung's Seattle Condo Blog

Belltown Condos: Belltown Lofts

Belltown Lofts is an interesting 6-story condo tucked in the corner of Bell St and Western Ave. It received a green honor award by AIA, the Built Smart certification from Seattle City Light, and obtained historic landmark status. The condo is comprised of two portions: a renovation of an existing building and an addition. 

The south portion was an old warehouse built in 1914 and was renovated by Driscoll Architects and U-Arc Design. It was completed in 2000. This 3 floor portion houses 25 loft homes. The majority of them are 2 story lofts with exposed brick walls and wood beams. Penthouses come with their own private rooft top deck.

The north portion is a new building that was added during the renovation and has 33 traditional flat units featuring one and two bedroom floor plans. The lobby has a display of art work that resembles an art gallery. The community shares a common rooftop deck and a bamboo courtyard with water fountains. A few of the units on the street level are live/work lofts and have access directly to Western Ave. 

Belltown Lofts' location is a mixed blessing. It's conveniently located close to Pike Place Market and the waterfront but it's also right next to the Alaskan Viaduct Way, creating a little bit of road noise for homes on the east side of the building. The proposed new tunnel going underground should greatly improve curb appeal. The layout of the traditional flats are functional and open with big windows. Loft homes have ceiling heights as high as 20 feet, which is kind of neat. Belltown Lofts is a great one to check out if you're fond of the brick style loft homes, since there are a limited selection for this type of homes in the neighborhood. The biggest drawback for this building is probably the lack of parking spots, only about half of them come with parking :-( 

One bedroom 569 - 726 square feet

Two bedroom 825-831 square feet

2 Story lofts 661-1,781 square feet

Condos near to Belltown Lofts:

Pomeroy
Site 17

Belltown Condos: Austin Bell

Austin Bell is a historic landmark located on one of the most vibrant blocks (2324 1s Ave) in Belltown. The building was constructed as a hotel in 1889 and was designed by noted architect, Elmer Fisher. It was named after William Bell's son, Austin. The hotel was almost destroyed by a fire in 1981 but the strong brick facade managed to survive. It was carefully restored from 1997-1999 by Murray Franklyn and Snell Partnership and turned into a condominium complex with a Starbucks on the street level. 
 
Floor plan & square footage               

23 Studio- 333-696 square feet           

16 One bedroom- 501-906 square feet

5 Two bedroom- 1,185-1,395 square feet

1 Three bedroom- 2,000 square feet

The lobby features wood columns with brick walls and pictures of the Austin Bell hotel in the early days. Out of the 45 units in the building, 12 of them are lofts boasting close to 20 foot ceilings. The majority of these homes are on the 2nd floor.  

Comparing Austin Bell and Pomeroy, they actually share some similarities. Both buildings use fob key entry for their lobby entrances as well as elevator, making it feel a little bit more secure than some other condos in Belltown. Both have limited amenities. In Pomeroy's case, it only has a huge common rooftop deck, probably one of the nicest in Belltown. As for Austin Bell, the rooftop deck is a little smaller but it has a central courtyard on the 2nd floor. Pomeroy has higher quality finishes and central air-conditioning but it does not have any lofts. Austin Bell has higher number of petite studios. They are small but well laid out and it's ideal for a first time home buyer or someone looking for an in city pied-a-terre.  

Related post:

Pomeroy

Monique Lofts

(Pictures contributed by Joseph Hill and archived under Seattle Condo Gallery)

Monique Lofts is a funky and hip condo in the Pike/Pine District (1024 E Pike St).  It was a warehouse office (1913) and was converted to a loft-style condo in 1999.  There are 24 residential homes in this three-story condo and two commercial spaces on street level. 

The interior has some interesting industrial elements including exposed concrete columns which add some nice accents to the walls.  Heavy wood beams hang across the ceilings, wood floors are throughout the open space and ceiling heights for these homes go as high as 20 feet! The smallest homes start at 467 square feet and the largest one is 1,989 square.

19th Ave Lofts

19th Ave Lofts is one of the few newer loft buildings in Capitol Hill (1812 19th Ave).  The condo is situated on the east edge of the neighborhood and was built in 2003.  It was designed by Val Thomas, who also developed Eastlake Lofts which has a similar look.  This 3-story condominium complex is a concrete and brick construction with 45 residential units. 

The Florentine- Pioneer Square Condo

 

The Florentine Condominium is a historic building located on the south edge of Pioneer Square on 526 1st Ave South.  It was built in 1909 and converted from a warehouse into 116 condos in 1990. 

During the conversion, an additional floor was built on top of this four story building as the penthouse homes (2 level townhomes).  Some might like to call it a loft style home.  Floor plans go from one bedroom, one bathroom to two bedroom penthouses.

One Bedroom plus den & Two bedroom     1,036-1,644 sq ft

Penthouse Homes                                 1,253-2,106 sq ft

Gallery Gets Creative with Condo Purchase Incentives

Here's the low down on Gallery's latest buyer incentives:

You pick one item from Column A:

(1) 3-2-1 Rate buy down (rates starting as low as 1.875%)

(2) 3% credit for closing costs

(3) No homeowner dues until Jan 2011

You pick two additional items from Column B:

(1) $500 gift card to Crate and Barrel, Target or Best Buy

(2) 2 hours design time with an interior designer

(3) Portable Air conditioner installation

(4) $500 credit to California Closets or Bartlett Blinds

(5) 3 Hours with a professional organizer

It kind of feels like you're ordering an entree and appetizer from a restaurant prixe fixe offering.  I think many buyers would prefer a price reduction or cash but there is some value in these options (especially category A 1 and 3 which helps buyer cash flow post-transaction).

Pontedera Condos

 

Pontedera Condos is a new construction project in the south edge of Central Seattle.  This 6-story building offers 94 homes with 8 work/live spaces.  The developer is HomeSight, a non-profit Development Corporation that builds affordable housing for first-time homebuyers.  

1 Bedroom                    565-780 square feet      >$220,000
1 Bedroom + Den                 770 square feet      >$385,000
1 Bedroom + Den loft   785-1,035 square feet      >$295,000
2 Bedroom                  780-1,095 square feet      >$289,000
2 Bedroom +Den        1,070-1,170 square feet     >$410,000
3 Bedroom                         1,200 square feet     >$380,000

Most homes in Pontedera have decks, patios or balconies.  Each home comes with a parking space.  Amenities include a landscaped terrace, community room, and bike storage room.  In some selected homes, there is gas fireplace.  According to HomeSight, Pontedera is designed to be low maintenance and energy efficient. 

-Wendy 

Brix Condos- Revisited

Six months ago I reviewed the Brix lofts (on 10th Avenue).  This week, I had the chance to tour the completed condos on the Broadway side.

The building does not have a ton of amenities, mainly the roof top deck, central courtyard and two lobbies.  For those who want to economize on HOA and price, this will be welcome news. For those who are looking for lots of building bells and whistles, this may not be your kind of condo.  Brix has recently reduced prices on some of their homes.

The overall feel of the building is quite pleasant, especially the central courtyard.  It is surprisingly quiet given that Broadway is just on the other side of the building.  Unfortunately for Brix, a 6 story apartment building has started their construction right across the street and this will block most of the west facing views.

Gallery Update

Gallery Condos has started moving in home buyers. Approximately 50% of their inventory has sold with more than 30 homes closed so far. If you are thinking of touring this building, the sales center is located on the street level on the North end of the building.

When it was initially launched, the sky lofts floor plans (2 level homes) were available from the 7th floor in the middle glass section of the building. However, due to higher demand for smaller floor plans, they changed to more single level open floor plans. The skylofts are available only on the ground level and penthouse levels. 4 penthouse level skylofts are sold. Only 10 sky lofts homes are available in the building.

The developer also raised prices on some of the homes since their launch. No buyers' incentives are available. Gallery will have an opening event sometime early next year when all the units are completed. Compared to its close competitor, the Parc, Gallery is a good looking building with more amenities but offers less variety of floor plans.

Related posts:

Gallery Update-Belltown condos
Gallery
The Parc Update 
Pre-construction Marketing versus Reality

Site 17 Condos

Site 17 in Belltown was originally an apartment completed in 1998 and then was subsequently converted into a condo in 2005. The condo is divided into two buildings located along Western Ave, only a few minute walk north of Pike Place Market. Site 17 consists of 129 homes with 97 units in the south building and 32 units in the north building.

A wide variety of floor plans includes studios, one bedrooms, one bedroom lofts, two bedrooms, and 2 bedroom town homes.

Square footage:

Studio ~496-650

One bedroom ~513-715

One bedroom Loft ~723-896

Two bedroom ~764-1058

Virtual tour video

Amenities include: Fitness center, club house and roof decks.

Site 17 is one of the few established buildings in Belltown that also offers loft floor plans. Ceiling heights for these homes go as high as 18 feet. Although there is nothing striking about the exterior (which in some ways reveal its apartment origins), Site 17's affordable price points offer many first time home buyers one of the opportunities to own a home in this vibrant urban neighborhood.

-Wendy

Condo Update

I have only been away for a week and yet there were quite a number of updates in Seattle Condos. Here is a quick summary:

2.) Following the foot steps of Expo 62 (Axis Apartment) and Domaine in Queen Anne, Moda is officially converted to an apartment. Moda homes were initially sold out two weeks after the sales center opened back in 2006. Two years later, several home buyers decided to back out from the purchase because the homes turned out to be smaller than they expected. That resulted with a handful of units becoming available on the market. However, with completion just around the corner, the developer has decided to turn it into an apartment citing that many home buyers are unable to secure financing as their 2nd home or investment property and others getting cold feet leaving them with no other alternative but to convert to an apartment. The slow market conditions did not help them as well. Read more.

Previous posts:

Moda Update
Moda: Small, smaller, smallest!

First Church Conversion Update

First Church has announced the release of their initial project floor plans.

The architects for this church to condo conversion have finished designing their twelve town home units which will be constructed within the historic structure.

The project is on track for spring 2009 completion.  Pre-sale pricing and specification will be released soon.

Related Posts:
Lights, camera and Action for First Church
First Church Conversion- Coming soon

Madison Lofts Grand Opening

I have been waiting to tour Madison Lofts for a while. The project seems to be taking forever. Finally, yesterday I had the chance to drop by. I keep asking myself, what am I so attracted to this building? Is it because it is the only new construction condo in Madison Park, the intrigue of modern lofts living in the already upscale residential neighborhood, or Sunday night's news about the developer reducing their price per square foot from $700 to $500/square foot? I have to say it's all of the above.

I took the tour of some of their smaller units and penthouses as well. The lowest price for their loft unit is $429,000 (#210). The rest of them range from $519,950 to $579,950 with the penthouses asking for $799,950 to $1.2M. So far, the project has sold 4 units.  Here are a few things about Madison Lofts:

• Units come with either balcony or combinations of balcony and outdoor deck. The outdoor deck size ranges from ~215 to ~1,100 square feet. Penthouses come with an additional private roof top deck.
• Each unit has individual air-conditioning/heating system hooked up to a heat pump that goes all the way to the rooftop.
• The interior finishes have a very European style with clean lines. The pull-up kitchen cabinets have become more and more common in some newer condos. I prefer the traditional type since I'm don't like to reach up to open cabinet doors but I guess most people are taller and won't mind the extra effort to open the cabinets.
• The building seems really well constructed with double walls between units, corrugated metal for the loft level, commercial style metal railings for the stairway leading up to the loft level and solid brick for the exterior instead of brick veneer.
• Only two types of upgrades are available, electronic shades and custom closet system.

Northgate's Thornton Place Development

Northgate is not an area that I focus on but I thought this was a really interesting development.  As most of us shopaholics know, major renovation work has been taking place at the Northgate Mall.

What you may not have noticed is the Thornton Place project scheduled for completion in the spring of 2009. This six-acre project is being developed by Lorig, a real estate development and management company, in partnership with Stellar Holdings and ERA Care communities.

Brix Update

      10th Ave (Townhomes / Lofts)

Brix construction is nearing completion with the move-in date scheduled for August 8, 2008 for their 10th Ave town homes / lofts and September 8, 2008 for their Broadway units.  32 units on the 10th Ave side and 57 units on the Broadway side are already sold -- roughly 60% of the total units.  Most of the remaining units in the Broadway side are in the $300,000's.  Just like Escala, they have also raised their prices on some of their units.

Right now, only a town home model unit is available for viewing. A sky bridge connects the two parts of the 10th Ave units. The roof top deck has a pretty good view that shows the skyline of downtown Seattle as well as the Sound and territorial views of Capitol Hill. When completed, there will also be a central courtyard with a water fountain.