Queen Anne, Ballard, Sunset Hill, Magnolia (Seattle, Redmond: affordable house, construction, closing) - Washington (WA) -Seattle and King County Suburbs - City-Data Forum

fromthebay · 10-03-2007, 02:46 PM

How are these areas... Im drawn to them because they dont seem to far from the city center and they are nearer to the water....

wythors · 10-03-2007, 03:09 PM

I've never heard of "Sunset Hill".

Queen Anne: Mostly upscale and quite expensive. Primarily a younger crowd.

Magnolia: Mostly very upscale with lots of old money. Northeast section is kind of dumpy.

Ballard: Probably the most affordable of the three, but rapidly becoming more popular and expensive. Has some pockets of relative affordability, but is rapidly moving up.

chris · 10-03-2007, 05:51 PM

I lived on Sunset Hill (Ballard) and it's possibly the nicest area (IMO) in Seattle. Hard to find an affordable house there now though.

I agree with Wythors. All I'd add to Queen Anne is that it's kind of crowded and getting in and out can be annoying.

wythors · 10-03-2007, 08:41 PM

Ah, so I assume that Sunset Hill is the area above Shilshole?

scirocco22 · 10-03-2007, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wythors

Ah, so I assume that Sunset Hill is the area above Shilshole?

Essentially, yes! Commonly associated with NW 32nd from about 60th NW all the way to 85th NW.

I remember as a kid the number 17 bus had Sunset Hill displayed on its sign ...I don't know, it still may.

jwb123 · 10-04-2007, 07:26 AM

I would agree with Chris and Wythors on these places... and like Chris said Ballard isn't really affordable anymore. Back in like, 2003 even - things were really climbing as it was the new "hot" spot for families. We tried to get in there then - and things in our price range just weren't what we were looking for.

We lived in Magnolia for a year just before we had our first baby (who is now 7, so you can do the math

) but while it appears to be "close" to downtown - it is, but in a round about way. It's kind of weird to get out of Magnolia and kinda feels "out there" which is nice in some ways, not so much, in others. It took us 25 mins to get to my inlaws house in CD... when we moved out to Issaquah, it took us less than that! (without traffic).

Also, Magnolia lacks any direct hwy access - and at that time, I was commuting to Redmond... and that was a nightmare.

ladyjuliek · 10-04-2007, 08:46 AM

I read in one of our books that Magnolia is kind of isolated, which is good because it tends to be only residential traffic. It said there were 2 ways to get to it, the bridge, and the one road which had heavy traffic. It also allegedly added 20 mins to my commute, but your experience may very. One thing that didn't feel safe to me, was that I think that bridge, the only bridge, one of two ways in or out, reportedly was damaged in the 2001 earthquake. Not to mention, it was a lot more expensive than some of the other places we're looking at. But it certainly has a lovely view and looks nice.

sean98125 · 10-04-2007, 09:23 AM

One thing to keep in mind with Ballard (including Sunset Hill) and Magnolia is that you're a bit of a drive from the freeway, and the east-west corridors are limited and congested. The increased business and residential development in Fremont, on Phinney Ridge and along 15th Ave W/Elliott have a pretty big impact on how long it takes to get to and from Ballard (along with the massive influx of people to Ballard over the past few years). Remember also that even though Ballard is close to downtown, the most direct route goes over a drawbridge over one of the busiest waterways in the nation. The drawbridge doesn't open during rush hour, but you should always plan on a few extra minutes parked on 15th waiting for the bridge to close. Another thing to keep in mind about Ballard and Magnolia is that at some point the city is going to be doing a major construction project to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct and that is going to have major traffic impacts on traffic coming in from the north.

wythors · 10-04-2007, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean98125

One thing to keep in mind with Ballard (including Sunset Hill) and Magnolia is that you're a bit of a drive from the freeway, and the east-west corridors are limited and congested. The increased business and residential development in Fremont, on Phinney Ridge and along 15th Ave W/Elliott have a pretty big impact on how long it takes to get to and from Ballard (along with the massive influx of people to Ballard over the past few years). Remember also that even though Ballard is close to downtown, the most direct route goes over a drawbridge over one of the busiest waterways in the nation. The drawbridge doesn't open during rush hour, but you should always plan on a few extra minutes parked on 15th waiting for the bridge to close. Another thing to keep in mind about Ballard and Magnolia is that at some point the city is going to be doing a major construction project to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct and that is going to have major traffic impacts on traffic coming in from the north.

This is a very good point. Seattle is set up for primarily north/south traffic. Going east/west is much slower.

The comment above about the bridge not opening during rush hour is incorrect. I sometimes use 15th NW as an alternate route on my commute and have been caught several times, both morning and evening, by an open bridge. It usually will add about 10 minutes to my trip, depending upon whether I'm caught as it opens or is closing.