Viaduct property sales soaring in wake of demolition
Mar 8, 2019, 5:09 PM
(WSDOT, Flickr)
(WSDOT, Flickr)
The demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct was far more than a historic event for developers in the area, as property sales have skyrocketed since the process first kicked off.
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A report from The Seattle Times Friday stated that a viaduct property has sold once every 11 days since the demolition process began back in 2011.
The report cites a series of big-money sales on properties in the area of the viaduct, including Columbia Center developer Martin Selig buying an old office building connected to the viaduct, and tearing it down to build a brand new 18-story office and apartment building.
Neighboring Selig’s project, an investor from the East Coast dropped $50 million to buy another older building, renovated it, convinced Big Fish Games to move its headquarters there, and subsequently sold the property for a whopping $186 million.
Despite the neighborhood currently being buried under construction, cranes, and debris, it won’t be long before the viaduct is completely cleared away, opening up views of waterfront and Olympic Mountains.
Pair that with the plans the city has to redevelop parts of the area for a public park, and suddenly it’s not hard to see why real estate money is moving at such a rapid pace.
The Times estimates that around two dozen large-scale construction projects have been started up within a quarter mile radius of the old viaduct in the last five years.
All this has had property values headed skyward, with assessed prices increasing by 59 percent since 2011, according to data from the King County Assessor’s Office. In total, the Times found that there has been $7 billion worth of property sales in that quarter-mile viaduct radius since 2011.
Some of the larger planned projects for the neighborhood include a 14-story hotel near Pike Place Market and a 38-story office building on 2nd Avenue.
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