Overbuilding's No Cause for Panic

At the current pace of Seattle-area residential development, overbuilding is a real risk, AvalonBay Communities SVP Brian Fritz tells us. Brian and his fellow panelists will tell us more at the upcoming Seattle Construction & Development Summit on Feb. 27 at the Four Seasons Seattle. (Sign up now.)

Brian, snapped in Vail this week, says it’s inevitable that submarkets seeing a lot of new deliveries will soften, but they'll most likely come in the form of concessions rather than long-term rent adjustments. Still, positive job growth is keeping the demand for new apartments strong. (What better place to add more jobs than the coffee capital of the world?) So those new units will eventually be absorbed. In January, the Redmond Design Review Board green-lighted AvalonBay’s plans for about 500 new multifamily units in Esterra Park that city, with construction slated to begin shortly. Other AvalonBay projects currently underway are in the Capitol Hill and University District neighborhoods, as well as in Lynnwood.

Also slated for a construction start soon: Mack Urban’s project just three blocks west of Wallingford Center on North 45th; renderings were released yesterday. The property will include 150 units, three retail spaces, a rooftop deck, and 5,000 SF of outdoor common space. According to NKA Architects principal Boyd Pickrell—whose firm designed the project—the building will fill a gap between two successful pedestrian streets, knitting them together. Walkability is a key attraction that will keep tenants coming, and the Wallingford neighborhood has it, with a Walk Score of 98 (aka “walker’s paradise”).