Actually living downtown in Seattle (Pacific: real estate, apartment complexes, for rent)

[coolbeans2000]

It's official I'm moving to Seattle in about 4 months. But I'll very likely only be living there for 1 year anyhow. (And for whatever it's worth. I'll be working near Safeco Field.)

I've already lived in several other large metro areas including New Orleans and Los Angeles/Orange County. But I've never actually lived downtown in a city before. My Mom lived in downtown NYC when she was 21. I always thought that was cool and it could be a great once in a lifetime experience to live downtown anywhere. Especially before I older and grumpier. I'm in my mid 30's. But I know the experience and quality of life varies dramatically depending which city you live in. I have been mostly looking at outlying areas like West Seattle and other small cities south of there.

But what about directly downtown?

What are some of the coolest parts of downtown to live?

What is it like to live in one of these high rise apartment complexes?

Are the walls thin?

Can you constantly hear people walking above you?

Is the parking a nightmare.

Is the novelty of walking or taking public transportation to eat, drink, and to a show even worth it?

Do any of these big complexes have secured garages for things I have like dirt bikes, mountain bikes and surfboards?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Seacove]

For one year? Rent one of those apodments and a storage unit for your gear. No sense going to a lot of trouble for twelve months. aPodment - aPodment.com

Stay in downtown Seattle, enjoy it for twelve months and move on to your next city.

[BATCAT]

One thing to keep in mind, if you want to broaden your possibilities a bit, is that many parts of Capitol Hill and First Hill are a five-to-ten-minute walk to downtown proper while offering more "residential" experience. They may also be cheaper.

[homesinseattle]

Congrats coolbeans on the job! Areas in/close to downtown that are neat:

-Belltown
-Pike/Pine area (near Capitol Hill)
-lofts in Pioneer Square
-lower Queen Anne.
-Alki area of West Seattle would work too. Passenger ferry comes to downtown walking distance to Safeco. http://www.kingcounty.gov/transporta.../WSeattle.aspx
-you could also rent a place in International District (Chinatown). That would give you a very unique Seattle
experience and be VERY close walk to work.

[tobester]

One other thing to consider ... cost - downtown apartments are quite expensive. Oh, and you probably won't need your surfboard here.

[homesinseattle]

North Beacon Hill is getting much nicer, would be more affordable than downtown and very accessible to your work.

[Gardyloo]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

-you could also rent a place in International District (Chinatown). That would give you a very unique Seattle experience and be VERY close walk to work.

Have a look at the apartments above Uwajimaya, Seattle's iconic pan-Asian supermarket/department store. Decent sized units, secure garage parking, and needless to say, shopping's a breeze. Walk to work, a block or so from the light rail station to the airport, downtown, University district (later this year) and buses everywhere.

http://www.equityapartments.com/wash...partments.aspx
Uwajimaya Village Apartments - 17 Photos - Apartments - International District - Seattle, WA - Reviews - Yelp
Uwajimaya | Store - Seattle
Uwajimaya - 604 Photos - Grocery - International District - Seattle, WA - Reviews - Yelp

[Kayela]

What are some of the coolest parts of downtown to live?

There are several parts to DT:
1. The southern, 'Pioneer Square' area. Formerly pretty darn sketchy, but improving rapidly since everyplace else has gone sky-high for rent. Lots of character, old brick buildings, galleries, night life, and convenient to your work. Still not so safe at times, but no longer an automatic 'H3ll no!'. If I had money, I'd buy real estate here - it's got great proximity to some of the new employers coming into Seattle, and it's still more affordable than the rest of DT. Dunno that I'd wanna live there yet, but it's a good contender for becoming the next trendy place to live. The International District is east of this, and has a similar reputation, but I'd also look for it to improve. And yes, Uwajimaya is a really neat grocery store with a great seafood department.

2. The waterfront area along the west side, from Sodo to Belltown. Some really sweet buildings. You live there for the view, but suck it up when it comes to traffic, and aside from the new Target, and Pike Place market itself, there's a dearth of day-to-day amenties here. (this goes for Pioneer Square too)


3. The northwest part by Pacific Place and Westlake Center. IMO, this is the most convenient and livable part of DT, however if you work in Sodo, this won't necessarily be the case for you. It's near Belltown, SLU, Cap Hill, First Hill and the rest of DT. It also has the Convention Place transit station and Westlake station which makes public transit super convenient. There are a bazillion restaurants to go to, lots of shopping, close to theatres, also close to regular movie theatres, and even a Bartell's and a Whole Foods nearby. However it's still not ideal for daily errand-type stuff. (This is the area we lived in, and we did so for the proximity to freeways, transit and all the neighborhoods noted above.)

What is it like to live in one of these high rise apartment complexes?

Depends on the building, but if you're talking one of the newer concrete and steel ones with a concierge, rooftop deck and lot of amenities - they rock! We spent a year doing this, and I still think back on it fondly. Dunno that I'd want to do that forever, but it was sure fun while it lasted. One of the neat things? Our building was full of pretty outgoing people. People in DT seem to go out a lot, are very active, and happy to talk about it. We had monthly get-togethers and people went to them.

Are the walls thin?

Ours were not, but this depends on the building.

Can you constantly hear people walking above you?

You can hear them if they're being obnoxious, normal noise - no.

Is the parking a nightmare.

Yes. We paid $180/mo for parking (2.5 years ago), and it went up to $365 right as we were giving notice. Ouch! Fortunately transit is extremely convenient, but street parking is so fiercely competative that it's not really an option. So if you want to keep your car, you might as well budget for it. Unless you rent a condo, parking is likely extra.

Is the novelty of walking or taking public transportation to eat, drink, and to a show even worth it?

Yes! It's so fun to walk out your door and go to dinner and Broadway show and only cross two streets. I am also a happy hour expert because nice restaurants have great deals on really good food and wine between the hours of 4 and 6 (and after 10). Cheaper than you can make it at home, and someone else does the dishes! I began to question why we even had a kitchen - a microwave over a sink would have been fine. There are so many restaurants, you can't even begin to get sick of them. And if you can't be bothered to walk ... like a block.. or two.. then lots of places deliver. Spoiled? Absolutely!!


As for public transportation? 8 different busses stopped outside our building. It was further for me to go down to the garage than hop on an express bus to work. One that delivered me a block from my building. For the first time ever - taking busses was more convenient than driving. Really, truly more convenient, and I am not all that big of a fan of public transit. It was kinda nice knowing I didn't have to be the one doing the driving. I could just kick back with my Kindle and chill. I got a lot of reading done that year.

BTW: I live in Capitol Hill now, and it's still really easy to walk to dinner and a show, and it's still not old! Going to Book of Mormon in a week. Traffic and parking? Not even a thing. It's a 15 minute walk, and if the weather gets really crappy I'll walk one block to the bus stop and hop the bus that'll deliver me 1 block from my door (I rather enjoy the walk though).

Do any of these big complexes have secured garages for things I have like dirt bikes, mountain bikes and surfboards?

The garage was common, but there were storage lockers for rent. We had one and it would have held several bikes, surfboard, etc. It was 5'x10' I think?


I don't know that I'd want to live the rest of my life Downtown, but it was really fun for the time we did it, and we were happy we got to have that experience.


May you enjoy wherever you end up!