I had to read all the way to the end to find it but there it is:
Key parcels of land near the Rainier Beach station are boarded up and underused. Absentee property owners are waiting until neighborhood demographics change, incomes rise and rents increase. In other words, he surmised, developers are waiting for the area to become more white.
I think the color involved here is actually green.
[Residential real estate broker Jonathan] Nicoli recently negotiated with a nonprofit to sell a property along South Henderson Street for about $1.25 million. About 400 feet from the Rainier Beach light-rail station, the land is currently a single family home, a rental property. He has permits to build a 30-unit apartment with ground floor commercial space.
Transforming parcels that house one family (or none, if it has been abandoned) to house 30 is where we need to be heading. We have seen single family homes sitting on land valued at 7 figures before. How many of those are out there? Or to put it another way, how much housing do we need? How many parcels/how any acres would need to be found? Not that anything can be done in the face of the land cartel but if all the busy arterials were up zoned and assessed land taxes that reflect a higher and better use, we could lower rents/shelter costs, revitalize moribund neighborhoods, and reclaim our public spaces from the unfortunates who have been forced out of private housing options.
But as last week’s election showed, property rights and private wealth accumulation are more important that human rights or community. Will the next four years yield any change in how Seattle manages its wealth? Can you have progress without change? It’s not at all clear Seattle wants progress. There have been a lot of changes, to be sure, but so many of them are keenly resented, it’s no wonder Bellevue is flexing to welcome new investment. Who next, Renton or Tacoma?