Changing face of the city
Seattle is undergoing a revival, or so it seems to read the news and drive around. Ballard today is different from Ballard a few years ago. South Lake Union is undergoing a massive revamp and marketing campaign by Paul Allen's company. Fremont has also become hipper and hipper, only in a quasi-yuppie way. Many of the dodgier looking condos/apts/misc buildings have gone away in favor of a condo/apt building that seems to be the style of the day - 2 or 3 colors. Metal showing. Very "cool". Can you tell that I'm not much for this style?
Now this is coming to Eastlake. I think that it's probably been in process for the last few years and it just happens that I'm here when things are starting to come to fruition - and a quick read through the Eastlake History page shows that this seems to be the case... Apparently the million-dollar plus condos of Mallard Cove on Roanoke was a student and low income apartment block in its former life. The home of Porta Greek Taverna, Bandeleone, and Hines Coffee Market is being torn down to be replaced with street level retail/restaurant upper level apartments. The work should be beginning soon - Porta and Hines are supposed to be out by end of Aug, Bandeleone already moved to Fremont a few months ago. Even though we've only been here a couple of years it's weird to see this progress (as I suppose it's called) coming to our little section of Seattle. What must those who've lived in the likes of Ranier Valley or Columbia City which are undergoing this change to the nth degree think? The upshot is that when we go to sell all of this should help raise the property values so I'll get a better price. The downside is that the area might be starting to lose a little bit of it's character...
Oh, and did I mention that we have a Starbucks in Eastlake these days? And it's a standalone building. At least the Subway is tucked into a strip mall relatively inoffensively...
[Edit 8/15/05 9:45 am: Add link to Eastlake history webpage (thanks for the link Aaron!)]