Last Spring, we covered a story about the Queen Anne Helpline, a Seattle-based non-profit organization serving people-in-need in the neighborhoods that are experiencing unprecedented job growth from the growing influx of Millennial technology workers. The demands for housing exceed the supply and the prices of apartments and residential homes in many Seattle neighborhoods continue to be hyper inflated. According to a recent article in the Seattle Times, Real Estate Developers are expected to add 11,000 more units in 2016 and even more in 2017. The operative spin is with so many more units coming onto the market, then eventually the demand for housing will be met and the prices will become more affordable for working and middle class renters. However, in the interim, the Seattle boom continues unabated and unfazed by the displacement of the elderly, families and individuals, who are being shoved out and thrust into a crisis situation.
While the Seattle climate (and I don’t mean the rain) continues to be highly favorable for real estate developers, I thought it would be interesting to look at life among the ruins of the old neighborhood. What’s it like to live in one of the new gentrified luxury apartment units?
The Towne apartment complex is one of four new luxury units, part of the Queen Anne Collection, located on the top of Queen Anne Hill, an area that might be the epicenter of the Seattle boom. Prior to groundbreaking, community residents tried to block the development of this property, which was formerly the site for Metropolitan Market—a beloved icon in the Upper Queen Anne community for 41 years. The Towne apartments came on the market in May 2014 with the marketing tag line the future of living.
On the Towne