KPLU Local News
(2010-02-05)
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SEATTLE, WA
(KPLU) -
Downtown Seattle is the city's economic engine - it's where nearly half of Seattle employees work and it generates more than half of the tax revenue in the city's general fund. A new report on the state of downtown shows more needs to be done to lure new employers to Seattle.
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Over the past year, vacancy rates for commercial real estate in Seattle have nearly doubled. They're now at twenty percent and likely to keep rising. There is a bright side to that statistic: with one in five office spaces vacant, bargains are available on high quality properties downtown.
" with views and with connections to the best transit anywhere in the region, for 4 bucks less a square foot than Bellevue. I'd call that opportunity."
Downtown Seattle Association President Kate Joncas put an optimistic spin on her presentation of the group's economic report for 2010. She says the city attracted some great new businesses last year - Russel Investments being the prime example. But she says Seattle isn't spending nearly as much as other cities on marketing to attract lucrative clusters such as biotech from other regions. Places like Atlanta and Louisville spend about twenty times as much.
"And just because we think we could be the center for global health, there are 30 other communities around the country that are working a lot harder than we are to make sure they become the center for bio sciences and they're putting money to it and are very aggressive."
She says Seattle needs to stop resting on its laurels and get aggressive too.
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