The Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) has published their mid-year Development Guide 2017 to measure development activity within downtown Seattle. Seventy-four projects were under construction as of June 2017, a 14 percent increase compared to the 65 projects at the same time last year, the most since DSA began tracking development in 2005. Nearly twice the number of projects are scheduled for completion in 2017 than were completed in 2016.
According to the Development Guide 2017, Downtown represents 5% of the permits issued in the city in the last 12 months yet accounts for half of Seattle’s construction value. There is currently $5 billion in construction activity, a 40 percent increase over the last year. Residential projects currently represent two-thirds of all projects under construction downtown, most of which is focused on apartment development. In the past 10 years 20,000 residential units have been added to the downtown inventory and more than 30,000 units are currently under construction or in development. In the past 18 months, 3,245 units have been completed with an additional 5,000 expected by the end of the year. Despite all of the residential activity, there are currently only 489 condo units under construction in comparison to the 8,880 apartment units.
Hotel development is also setting records. There are nearly 14,000 hotel rooms downtown, the highest hotel capacity in the city. As of June 2017 there are 2,875 rooms under construction, a large portion of that total being the new 1,264 room Hyatt Regency on 9th and Stewart, set to open in the fall of 2018. A total of 919 hotel rooms are scheduled to be completed this year, the most since DSA began tracking comparable data in 2005. The previous record was 652 in 2007. In the next two years, 2018-2019, an additional 3,223 rooms are scheduled to be completed. Once built, the 6,660 rooms in various stages of development represent a potential 48 percent increase in hotel capacity.
The investments developers make downtown show a level of confidence in the current and future economy. Companies are choosing to relocate to the downtown area and so are their employees; workers wanting to live closer to their place of employment. Downtown Seattle is clearly proving to not only be an amazing place to visit, but to live, work, shop and play as well.