From: http://www.centraldistrictnews.com
Design for planned but stalled building on southwest corner. 23rd and Union is the big story on the front page of The Seattle Times today. Close readers of CDNews won’t be too surprised by much of the news, but it’s presence on the front page suggests that momentum for changes really is growing.
But the story also points out the sober reality that the corner’s cultural narrative is up for grabs, and there is a potential for the corner to be essentially annexed by the insatiable demand for housing and commercial space on Capitol Hill.
“What we are looking at are rents that are achievable for a lot of folks that have been priced out of Capitol Hill,” Joe Ferguson of Lake Union Partners told the Times. Lake Union Partners is behind plans for the long-stalled six-story building on the vacant southwest corner. As we reported last month, Ian Eisenberg bought that property recently with hopes of getting the project moving.
The Central District’s location makes it easy to walk, bike or take transit to the region’s largest employment center: downtown. Groceries, shopping, eating and playing are all within close reach from any CD home. With demand in Seattle for housing with such urban amenities growing far faster than the supply (and with no signs of slowing down), the CD is destined to continue its growth as a desirable place to live. These desirable traits are all good things. But as more people move to the neighborhood, what place story will they hear when they get here? Is the Central District an exciting, vibrant and unique place to be, or is it just gentrifying new growth on the edge of Capitol Hill?…..
AfricaTown/CD 