City Hall cultivates downtown housing boom

The pressure is on you — yes, you — to live in downtown Seattle.

"it's all here. why aren't you?" beckons an ad for the future 5th & Marion condominiums.

Downtown living is glamorous — or so promises the marketing for an unprecedented number of new condos and luxury apartments that will open over the next couple years:

"Spontaneity and haute couture. The capricious and the classic. Think the perfect martini and a cashmere blanket. The retail district. Pike Place Market. Benaroya nights. All coming together in one place."

Where, pray tell?

"Smack dab on the corner of Stravinsky + Sockeye," says the ad for the Second + Pine condos. (And you thought that was the corner of Discount Fashions + Cheap Heroin.)

City Hall's emphasis on living downtown has led to a housing boom, attracting buyers with disposable income, no kids and an appreciation of the arts and fine dining.

Over the past five years, more than 3,200 condo and apartment units have been built downtown and in surrounding neighborhoods. About twice that many are in the works where new zoning allows for taller buildings.

"What I hear day to day from people is that they want to live, work and play in the city and use their cars as little as possible," said Moira Holley, a Windermere agent who specializes in urban living.

But is downtown living really all that glamorous? The experiences of three couples suggest that it's a matter of tradeoffs. They live in the middle of it all but have given up personal space, redefined the concept of neighborhood and embraced a vibrant street life in all of its various forms.

For them, downtown living is a reality show.

"It's pretty darn cool"

Steve Emmer and Cody Christensen made the leap about four years ago.

While buying a bottle of sherry at a store near the Pike Place Market, they noticed a sign for an open house at the Hillclimb Court condos. They went in and immediately fell in love with the two-level corner unit, particularly its enormous outdoor terrace that has views of Elliott Bay and the "Public Market Center" neon sign.

The couple sold their house in Madrona and purged a lot of their stuff in the process. They paid $490,000 for their home — a steal in today's market.

"I really didn't know if I would like living downtown, but it's pretty darn cool," Emmer said. "It has a very interesting energy."

The couple spiffed up the terrace by creating an amazing container garden with more pots than are currently in stock at the Fred Meyer in Auburn. Emmer, though, misses sticking a shovel into real earth.

They own a big dog, which a lot of people don't think is possible when living downtown. Emmer, though, misses bumping into his Madrona neighbors while walking the dog.

"Being more dense down here, there are more places for my neighbors to hang out," he said. "It's rare to run into people you know other than inside the condominium complex."

Emmer buses or hikes to work. Christensen walks onto the ferry and then hops in his car, which he parks on the opposite side of the Sound, and drives to work in Silverdale, Kitsap County. Downtown living offers them conveniences, but not necessarily glamour.

"It might be glamorous for those who go to shows or the symphony and out to nice dinners a couple or three times a week," Emmer said. "But we're the uncultured types. We don't go to performances. Both of us feel that downtown lacks affordable places to eat at night. There are plenty of fancy restaurants but few 'It's Wednesday night and I don't feel like cooking' kind of places."

From the windows of their condo, they can see people shooting up. Human waste sometimes sullies the entrance to the complex. But Emmer is not complaining.

"One thing I like about where we're at is that we aren't high up in the sky," he said. "We're not separated that far from the street."

Urban retreat, showplace

Cristalla, a residential tower at Second Avenue and Lenora Street, opened a couple years ago as one of downtown's premier home addresses. A 928-square-foot, one-bedroom unit on the 11th floor is on the market for $689,500.

Nine floors up is Steve and Suzanne Stusser's place, which has similar square footage but would sell for a lot more. The Bothell couple use it as an urban retreat and a showplace for the hand-crafted furniture and cabinetry of Stusser Woodworks, Steve's company.

"We spend almost every weekend here," Suzanne Stusser said. "If not two nights, then one."

Pike Place Market has become an important part of the Stussers' lives. They enjoy getting to know the vendors, who in turn get to know them and suggest things they might like.

The Stussers' condo, with its custom finishes, epitomizes a downtown-living doctrine: design creatively and efficiently.

"The concept we used was like on a boat," Steve Stusser said. "Utilize space as best as you can while designing for aesthetic and function."

They fiddled with Cristalla's set floorplan, swapping the space set aside for the bedroom with that of the den. By doing so, they effectively doubled the size of their living area. With a sofa bed and pocket door that can be pulled for privacy, the den can be used as a guest room.

They traded the tub for a shower in the master bath in order to add a powder room for guests. The small living room is made bigger by hanging a flat-screen plasma TV.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Suzanne Stusser said. "We've done it all in 911 square feet."

"The next evolution"

The thought of living in downtown's financial district may seem intimidating or strange to some, even those who have found comfort in Belltown, Pioneer Square or Lower Queen Anne.

"We're really branding a new neighborhood here in the financial district," said Steve Paoli, community sales manager for 5th and Madison, a 24-floor residential tower going up across the street from the Seattle Central Library and one of several new residential projects planned within the central core.

"We're the next evolution of living downtown."

About 40 percent of 5th and Madison's 126 units, the majority of which sell from $500,000 to $700,000, have been bought in the first three months of sales. First occupancy is targeted for September 2007.

The financial district is being pitched as a quieter and more sophisticated alternative to Belltown or Pioneer Square. Several 5th and Madison buyers are transplants from bigger cities who are familiar with living in a financial district.

Audrey Chiew and her husband, Chee-Hong Pang, hail from Sydney, Australia. After moving to Seattle two years ago from London, they rented in Belltown and the University District before buying a fourth-floor unit at 5th and Madison that faces the Rem Koolhaas-designed library.

"It's a very unique part of the downtown, isn't it?" Chiew said. "We like the vibrancy during the day with all the banks and hotels and the office workers walking around. When the offices close, it becomes more quiet, and into the weekend as well. And yet it offers no less than Belltown or Pioneer Square or Lower Queen Anne in terms of proximity to restaurants."

Chiew said people in Sydney also were once skeptical about living in a financial district.

"And now, it's very expensive to own a home in downtown Sydney," she said. "Downtown living is not for everybody. But Seattle has a lot to offer on a daily basis and those who want to make the most of that are choosing to live downtown."

Stuart Eskenazi: 206-464-2293 or seskenazi@seattletimes.com

— A saying by Robert Frost, borrowed as a marketing slogan for The Cobb, a luxury apartment house at Fourth Avenue and University Street in downtown Seattle.