Downtown Seattle is no place to raise a kid and that's... ok

family shopping trip
Originally uploaded by poopoorama.

Having just surrendered on starting a family while living in Seattle's downtown, we feel well-qualified to call bullpoop on Peter Steinbrueck's plan to attract families to live in the city's core. We hate being negative on this. We are pro-growth, pro-hippie dippie utopia types. You have to really work to turn us off a seemingly progressive agenda. But we've seen what Seattle's downtown real estate market is like up close and personal. And nothing in this 'plan' will change it. And maybe, nothing should -- but more on that lower in the post.

First, from "THE STEINBRUECK PLAN"
-snip-
The plan seeks to reach three key objectives:
• Create a downtown where a wide variety of residents would want to live,
including families and those of moderate income. A key goal is to have people
living closer to where they work.
• Expand affordable housing opportunities for downtown workers and families
• Create a more neighborly downtown by creating more reasons for residents to
spend time in the neighborhood, such as developing quality park and community
space
-unsnip-

But a summary of the specifics illustrates just how few teeth the council can put into the plan. Here's what Peter's plan calls for:
* Doubling the money contributed by developers into an affordable housing fund;
* Preserving the historic character of downtown Seattle. An Historic Resources Survey will assure our downtown core keeps it's historic distinction;
* Creating a livable residential environment in the Denny Triangle by decreasing proposed building height limits for office towers in the Denny Triangle yet, allowing increased heights in the central business district where commercial office towers currently exist;
* Committing to creating a family-friendly park and community center for Belltown, near downtown where 8,000 residents currently reside;
* Creating a more family-friendly environment by working with Seattle Public Schools to site an elementary school downtown.

Note there is nothing in this that will stop developers from building one Cristalla after another. Why not build them? The Cristalla is sold out and the demographic that can afford it is lining up to buy more. Maybe Cristala is what Steinbrueck means when he says 'affordable family housing.' It's a ridiculous notion. Cristalla units reportedly sold for around $540 per square foot -- that's $650 grand for a 1,200-foot unit.

But I'm not here to say stop the Cristallas. I've given up on that. In hindsight, it's a silly idea. There is a big market for Cristallas -- I don't know who these people are who can afford to pay more than $600K for 1-bedroom condos but they are out there. Maybe the same people like to own 6 or 7 units to match their moods.

And I'm not here to say don't build a park in Belltown. Build it, please. We love grass and trees.

I'm saying that THE STEINBRUECK PLAN won't help families live downtown. Things like community development and elementary school projects should work with reality and make that reality better. That means putting energy into the areas where families really can afford to live. Don't give up on making downtown attractive to families (and everybody, for that matter) -- go forward with improvement plans like parks and solving transportation issues. Families will come, Peter. They most definitely will come. Just don't expect them to live there.

Full disclosure: We just bought a home on Capitol Hill (we're lucky to be able to afford to live so close to the city's center). For those of you that might take a jab because we're giving up on developing downtown for family living so more resources are available for our new neighborhood, it's hard to argue with you. And, while not everybody is going to be able to buy or rent on Cap Hill, I'm guessing that we're part of a trend.

--j

Tags: uptown, seattle, housing, realestate