Nuclear bunkers are the new real estate craze
Excerpted from an article at CNET by Alfred Ng. “I am trying really hard to make this nuclear bomb shelter feel like a home. The room is small, just enough to fit a bunk bed, a padded bench, a...
Read moreScammers Are Increasingly Targeting Real Estate Transactions
Exerped from and article at Forbes by Jim Morrison. “Scams targeting real estate transactions are on the rise, according to the FBI. Experts say there are many simple ways that consumers and real estate professionals can protect themselves and each...
Read moreBuyers are ‘fatigued,’ ‘burned out,’ but kept house-hunting even in August, real-estate agents say
An article over at Market Watch written by Andrea Riquier has the round up of the market burn-out that is happening. “The sharp slowdown in the housing market has come as no surprise to most observers. A steep imbalance...
Read moreThe million-dollar brownstone that no one owned
Excerpted from an article at The Outline by Cole Hawes Louison. On December 12, 2013, a three-story brick townhouse in a swank part of Brooklyn sold for $20,000. A mysterious organization called AOTA LLC bought it from a guy...
Read more46 Sustainability Leaders (Who Are Also Women)
“Do you know any other female sustainability experts?” I was asked this last week when I couldn’t fit a keynote speech into my diary. And I was asked it the week before, when a client wanted nominations to their...
Read moreFlashback: Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Strange New Cottage in Berkeley’
Allen Ginsberg lived in Berkeley from September 1955 until August 1956. I have written about his time here, but, until Labor Day weekend, I had not seen photographs of the cottage he rented behind 1624 Milvia. I now have five...
Read moreCracking the Bizarre Urban Legend of Alameda’s Little People Houses
Bay Curious Podcast had a great piece about an Urban Legend of the Little People Houses in Alameda. Here is an excerpt – listen and read the whole transcript at their website. During World War II, shipbuilding was big...
Read moreThe Past. Present. And Future of Sustainable Architecture
Excerpted from Pacific Standard by Brian J. Barth. In the late 1980s, revolution was afoot in the world of architecture. It started when a soft-spoken Kansas City architect named Bob Berkebile tried to convince the American Institute of Architects...
Read moreThe avocado toast homeownership meme, explained
From a Curbed article by Margaret Lin. Sixty-six million years ago, ancient giant ground sloths consumed avocados whole, traveled long distances, and, ahem, fertilized and dispersed the seed. Today, we still have avocados—and an affordable housing crisis that only seems to...
Read moreSustainable Cities Are Closer Than We Think
An interesting podcast interview with Steven Cohen discussing how big cities are leading the way to a more sustainable planet from Wharton. Read the whole transcript here. A quick scan of the headlines paints a bleak picture of the...
Read moreThis gorgeous pop-up restaurant is completely waste-free
At WantedDesign Manhattan during NYCxDesign 2018, designer Linda Bergroth partnered with the Finnish Cultural Institute and the Finnish Design Shop to design an impressive pop-up restaurant called Zero Waste Bistro. Like its name suggests, everything in the blue-speckled interior—from walls to table...
Read moreMan Hits A Hole-In-One In His Final Game Of Golf
93-year-old Ben Bender of Zanesville, Ohio, had played golf for 66 years. But he’d never hit a hole-in-one. Given the fact that the average amateur golfer has a 12,500-to-1 shot at a hole-in-one every time they step in the tee box,...
Read moreSeattle is the Fastest Growing City that is Actually a City
The US Census has just released data on the fastest growing cities in the US from 2016 to 2017. Or did they? Irvine, California, at expanding at 4.2% and Henderson, Nevada, at 3.6% topped the list, which was limited to those...
Read moreNano-robots have built the world’s smallest house
French researchers from the Femto-ST Institute have used micro-robots to assemble the world’s smallest house, which stands just 0.015 millimeters high. The tiny house, which has a footprint of 0.02 millimeters by 0.01 millimeters, is around half a million times smaller...
Read moreAn Ice-Age Building Now Sports Nifty Offices
At first glance you’d think David Zarett might be looking for a job at The Cobalt Group headquarters south of Safeco Field. With his mop of curly hair, casual clothes and cool sunglasses, he blends in with the young...
Read moreAlaska Trade Building Purchase
A Seattle-based partnership led by investor David Zarett paid $7 million to buy the Alaska Trade Building and the adjacent Butterworth Building, in the 1900 block of First Avenue in Seattle, from investors including Paul Liao of engineering firm...
Read moreCobalt Building Sells for $20M
The 98-year-old Cobalt Building near Qwest Field in Seattle has been sold by Zarett Properties for $20 million. The 122,000-square-foot building at 2200 First Ave. S. was bought by UCM/FPI-Cobalt LLC. David Zarett bought the building in 1997 for...
Read moreCobalt Takes Big Chunk of Rehabbed Space
The Internet company Cobalt Group Inc., fresh from its initial public offering, leased 75,000 square feet in developer David Zarett’s rehabbed Olympic Cold Storage building south of the Kingdome. The deal turns another risky spec project into a likely...
Read moreOld Cold Storage Turns Into a Hot New Address
To the casual observer, buying a defunct cold storage facility as an investment seems absurd, but then a casual observer doesn’t know much about real estate in Seattle. David Zarett, a 36-year-old developer of Zarett Properties, knows plenty about...
Read moreInvestor Eyes Office Project for N. Lake Union Site
Seattle investor David Zarett has doubled the size of his holdings on the north end of Lake Union, where he now is considering developing an office project instead of residential condos. Last week, Zarett paid just under $3.6 million...
Read moreValue of Zulily’s Building Shoots Up 38% in Seven Years
For tech companies and real estate investors, there’s some seriously good juju going on at First and Walker in Seattle’s Sodo neighborhood. Tech companies, including Zulily, have had great success in the 114-year-old building that sits at the corner,...
Read moreInvestors Buy North Lake Union Parcel
An investment group led by David Zarett paid $3.58 million for a second half-block property overlooking the north end of Lake Union. Northlake LLC now owns the full block along North Northlake Way between Wallingord Avenue North and Burke...
Read moreSo Long to Blue-Collar Zone?
When city leaders set out five years ago to save the Duwamish industrial area for industry, Seattle’s blue-collar backbone seemed safe. Today, its future is muddier than its namesake river. The city, with help from lobbyists, is completing a...
Read moreLofts are Pike-Pine’s Latest Upmarket Move
Kauri Investments Ltd. has received its city development permit to convert a vacant, four-story warehouse in Capitol Hill’s gentrifying Pike-Pine corridor into 26 art-loft condos. A $3 million conversion of the now-windowless shell of a structure at 11th Avenue...
Read moreStadiums Only Part of Development Explosion
On the face of it, Seattle’s two new professional sports stadiums might not be expected to ignite a renaissance of the largely industrial area around them. For one thing, the Mariners and Seahawks are no strangers to the area....
Read moreA Tale of Two Markets
In Seattle, everything old is new again but in Bellevue new still means new. Office space vacancy rates are reaching historic lows on both sides of Lake Washington, 3.2 percent in Seattle and 3.8 percent for Bellevue last quarter,...
Read moreMadison Street Heats Up
Gritty stretch of Madison Street will soon shine Andrew Taylor has watched this soiled stretch of Madison Street languish for 16 years. Boutiques and pricey restaurants flooded into Madison Valley a few blocks to the east. Downtown and Capitol...
Read moreRetail? Start With the First Floor
First floor retail must be considered from a cost-versus-benefit perspective. Shopping malls, restaurants and retail storefronts shape our urban experience. Unfortunately, first floor retail space in new residential or office buildings is too frequently neglected. As a result, developers,...
Read moreDowntown Seattle Fire Closes First Avenue
A fire on First Avenue in downtown Seattle closed that road to traffic in both directions Thursday afternoon. Firefighters were sent at 2:34 p.m. to the blaze in the 1900 block of First Avenue. The building on fire was...
Read moreCapitol Hill Business Notes
In November 2013, the owners of Samadhi Yoga told CHS they planned to close the 12th/Pike studio after 15 years at 12th and Pike. But then came word that new partners and a possible new tea shop might just mean a change of...
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