If you haven’t been south to the Emerald City, you might not be aware of the construction boom underway – particularly in the Belltown/South Lake Union area, east and north of the Space Needle in Seattle Centre.
Here’s a link to a high-def image produced by Microsoft that allows you to explore central Seattle in astonishing detail. (Zoom in on Mt. Rainier to get an idea.) They’ve also worked in the presence of many local artists (in a way, to be honest, I don’t quite get. Explanations welcome.)
Below, a clip that shows the extent of the infill occurring on the parking lots that characterized the area north of downtown.
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Is all this development a bubble? (Ten thousand units this year, 15,000 in 2015.) Is the old familiar Seattle dying?
The Stranger discusses. A contributor at the Seattle Transit Blog doesn’t think so, in “Bubbles and Housing Stock.”
Reblogged this on TITIK MEDIA.
One of the comments from The Stranger’s article rang very familiar regarding a certain Olympic Village:
“@12: This faux nostalgia regarding SLU is absurd. This area had nothing 20 years ago: no restaurants, no coffee shops, no grocery stores, run-down buildings and just a sad feeling. You’re right, it feels a bit sterile now, but there’s a lot going on, and more people are moving in. It will get there.”
It’s almost like Vancouver doesn’t exist in a completely unique bubble and is actually going through the same sort of trends and challenges that other desirable, growing cities are experiencing. What a crazy thought.