Talks in the morning (in-person + Zoom hybrid):
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Karen Chapple, Ph.D., University of Toronto, on the recovery of various downtowns by cellphone data (Barcelona is 100%, Portland is the worst, about 60%)
Tracy Hadden Loh, Ph.D., Fellow, Brookings Metro, on the future of downtown
Cynthia Chen, Ph.D., University of Washington, on car trips before/after the pandemic (similar number of trips, but shorter trips).
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Lyle Bicknell, Urban Designer, City of Seattle
Mason Thompson, Mayor of Bothell
Michelle Allison, General Manager, Metro Transit
Brendan Nelson, Empowering People in Communities
I caught the lady from Metro Transit, quickly asked my 3 requests (add current time on displays, using pictogram on Links for current stop, shorter trains but more frequency).
She said, the first they are working on already. 2nd, she agrees that it's a good idea. 3rd, she's surprised - that made me surprised.
During the lunch, Rep. Julia Reed (36th District) talked briefly. She's in her mid-30s, sounded very down-to-earth. I like her.
In afternoon, there were 2 tours. One on civic buildings, one on commercial (re)development. We gathered at the ground-floor lobby. I was on the latter tour, at least a dozen people, plus the organizers. The first one has very few takers.
Our first stop is 2+U. The building manager led the tour. The renovation was finished just before the Pandemic.
The commercial space is only 30% rented. Ground floor shops are all leased.
A large-ish outdoor space with a roof, where an October-Fest took place yesterday, when it was raining.
The 40th floor lounge and deck is available to all the tenants.
Great view, spacious, kitchen, a separate conference room.
Here, a representative from Downtown Seattle Association distributed a nicely printed and designed book on the vision of 3rd ave.
2nd stop: Benaroya Hall. It was decorated for the season opening this weekend.
According to the building manager, all staff were kept on payroll during the COVID shutdown.
That's nice to hear.
The gallery area is scheduled to open for lunch soon, to revitalized this part of the 3rd ave. It has been closed since COVID except 2 hours before events.
An interesting bit about cleaning the two giant Chihuly glass installation.
The building will shut down for a whole week. Chihuly's company will send a team to take all the pieces down, clean them, and then put them back together!!!
3rd stop is Cedar Hall at US Bank building. Not yet open for business. This property is owned now by Blackstone.
The 4th stop is the new Rainier Square: the office/residential tower. Amazon leased all the office space, of which 50% is subleased.
We visited the lounge floor: available for all tenants. Spacious, great view.
There, switched to a different elevator to the residential floors.
Rainier Sq is on the land owned by UW. So, lease only.
This 2bd-2ba demo unit we visited costs $15200/month at 57th floor. A nice bath with a view. Shower is at the other end of the same bathroom.
Suprising to me, more than 100 apartments (out of 189) are already rented.
At the end of the tour, some of us went back to 2+U, at the bar for a happy hour. Gee, a beer on tap is over $9 before tip. Things are a lot more expensive now.
