Where do you see Seattle in 10 yrs? (Vancouver, Kent: condos, high crime)

[aaronkc]

Will it keep gaining population? What about jobs and economy in general? Will it stay strong? Will the COL rise dramatically to the point of slowing the growth and pricing many locals out? Will there be more nightlife, restaurants, diversity? Will NBA and NHL come?

[ladderoflocus]

Originally Posted by aaronkc

Will it keep gaining population? What about jobs and economy in general? Will it stay strong? Will the COL rise dramatically to the point of slowing the growth and pricing many locals out? Will there be more nightlife, restaurants, diversity? Will NBA and NHL come?

I suspect it will become more like Vancouver BC, but with a more tech and engineering focused economy. COL will likely increase to nearly the levels of the SF BayArea. The further development of rail will further increase Seattle's desirability and thus COL. I also forsee many more condos all over the city. It will be interesting to see how much Seattle will change in 10 years. Vancouver's high COL hasn't stopped then population growth, and I doubt it will in Seattle. I also suspect more Chinese will flock here.

[aaronkc]

Reaching sf col might be a stretch

[Hawaii4evr]

Better public transportation, more diversity, larger population, more expensive.

[DevanXL]

Originally Posted by aaronkc

Reaching sf col might be a stretch

Yeah, the Bay Area COL will keep rising aswell so I doubt Seattle will make it there in just 10 years....

[aaronkc]

Originally Posted by DevanXL

Yeah, the Bay Area COL will keep rising aswell so I doubt Seattle will make it there in just 10 years....

yea, its not like other cities are getting cheaper or staying the same, u read some of these ignorant posts here and one might think seattle is the most expensive city in the country only slightly below nyc and sf

[Ira500]

I think it will continue to gain population. Seattle has traditionally been a boom and bust economy, and there are scenarios where it could decline economically. But it's booming right now. I think it'll stay strong for at least the next few years. If Boeing ultimately decides to move a lot more manufacturing to South Carolina, that would have an impact here. Boeing still employs a ton of people locally, they don't all work for Microsoft or Amazon.
The cost of living hasn't driven locals out of the Seattle area, but for working class and middle class folks, it's driven them out of neighborhoods/ areas they could formerly afford to live in, and this has been going on for a while. Capitol Hill used to be a cheap place to live, no longer. Fremont used to be a cheap place to live, longer. Ballard used to be cheap, no longer. The people who used to live there didn't all either move out of the Seattle area or die. Some went to the less expensive Seattle suburbs...Bothell, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Renton, Kent, Maple Valley, etc.
There will be more nightlife, restaurants, and diversity. The NBA will definitely come. The Sonics were a very successful franchise until owner Howard Schultz drove them into the ground. Just because you can successfully own a coffee company doesn't mean you'll be a good NBA owner. Hockey I'd love to see. Less sure than having an NBA team back, but there's a ton of money in the Seattle area. The Sounders soccer team draws twice as many fans as the Mariners baseball team, but that's only because the Mariners stink.

[aaronkc]

Originally Posted by Ira500

I think it will continue to gain population. Seattle has traditionally been a boom and bust economy, and there are scenarios where it could decline economically. But it's booming right now. I think it'll stay strong for at least the next few years. If Boeing ultimately decides to move a lot more manufacturing to South Carolina, that would have an impact here. Boeing still employs a ton of people locally, they don't all work for Microsoft or Amazon.
The cost of living hasn't driven locals out of the Seattle area, but for working class and middle class folks, it's driven them out of neighborhoods/ areas they could formerly afford to live in, and this has been going on for a while. Capitol Hill used to be a cheap place to live, no longer. Fremont used to be a cheap place to live, longer. Ballard used to be cheap, no longer. The people who used to live there didn't all either move out of the Seattle area or die. Some went to the less expensive Seattle suburbs...Bothell, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Renton, Kent, Maple Valley, etc.
There will be more nightlife, restaurants, and diversity. The NBA will definitely come. The Sonics were a very successful franchise until owner Howard Schultz drove them into the ground. Just because you can successfully own a coffee company doesn't mean you'll be a good NBA owner. Hockey I'd love to see. Less sure than having an NBA team back, but there's a ton of money in the Seattle area. The Sounders soccer team draws twice as many fans as the Mariners baseball team, but that's only because the Mariners stink.

but suburbs will rise in COL too? in nyc, for example, even the far out burbs are not really cheaper than the outer boroughs

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by aaronkc

but suburbs will rise in COL too? in nyc, for example, even the far out burbs are not really cheaper than the outer boroughs

In Seattle, the only neighborhoods that are really cheaper within the city limits are either pretty far from downtown, or pretty run down with a reputation for high crime. The older, inner ring suburbs north and south of Seattle are less expensive than within the city. I assume they'll cost more to live in as time goes on, but those are places where there are less highly paid tech people, less professionals. Within Seattle, it's almost getting to the point where if you want to live cheaply, you have to live in one of those apodments.

[aaronkc]

yea, seattle suburbs seem much cheaper than city proper