South_lake_union

Wondering what’s going on in South Lake Union nowadays? If you drive on Denny Way recently, you’d probably noticed that Enso and Rollin construction is well under way. A few blocks east of 2200 Westlake, Mirabella, a retirement building, is nearing completion and East of 2200 Westlake, the new Borealis Apartments are now leasing.

Despite all this action, the market has certainly slowed down in many sales centers, including the SLU experiencing lower traffic. If you are curious about South Lake Union, here is a quick update on the three projects:

Veer Lofts- 401 9th Ave N (99 units)
Over 50% sold with 5 listed on the MLS

Enso- 820 Blanchard St (135 units)
Over 50% sold with 5 listed on the MLS

Rollin- 120 Westlake Ave N- (208 units)
Over 30% sold with 9 listed on the MLS

According to the Discovery Center, Vulcan will be building 11 offices for Amazon with completion around 2010 and employees of Amazon will be moving in the offices in 2011. There will be retail spaces in these offices as well (I wonder how many Starbucks that will be…). As for the office portion of Enso, there is no news yet on which tenant will be occupying the space.

SLU has come a long way over the years.  Here’s a recap for those who aren’t as familiar.

Mar 2006
What’s going on in South Lake Union?

June 2006
Who wants to be a Vulcannaire?
Vulcan sneak preview event took place under a white tent next to the discovery center to introduce their 4 condo projects, Enso, Rollin, Veer Lofts and Martin. Homebuyers interested in the project had to attend the informational session in order to obtain a lottery card (remember those times!). Martin condos, which was supposed to be built behind Cinerama, is put on hold.

July 2006
Vulcan’s informational overview appointment
Questions for Vulcan

Aug 2006
South Lake Union hosted their annual block party

Oct 2006
Discovery Center re-opened with a more detailed presentation of their 3 condos.

Nov 2006
2200 Westlake had a community opening

Dec 2006
2200 Residents started moving into the condos

June 2007
2200 Westlake Flipper… still waiting to flip

Sep 2007
1,400 Microsoft employees in Seattle 

Dec 2007
South Lake Union Street car started running from Downtown to Eastlake
Amazon will be occupying 1.6M square feet of office space in South Lake Union

April 2008
South Lake Union Park Phase 1 opened