Opening Bell
Statshot: Weapons of Mass Construction
Seattle boasts an impressive number of new office buildings
By Seattle Business Magazine April 23, 2024
This article originally appeared in the March/April 2024 issue of Seattle magazine.
Downtown Seattle’s vacancy rate continues to rise, though new office buildings are going up at a rapid rate. A report from Kidder Mathews pegs the vacancy rate at 23.9%. For comparison purposes, it was about 10% at the end of 2019, just before the pandemic. Despite that, data firm Commercial Edge reports that Seattle has 6.58 million square feet of office space under construction, second in the country behind only Boston. Here are the top 10:
Quote
“First, we saw a negative impact to our business in the Middle East. Second, events in the Middle East also had an impact in the U.S., driven by misperceptions about our position.”
Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan, explaining to analysts why foot traffic has dropped at stores since last November. Starbucks and Starbucks Workers United both filed lawsuits against each other in a dispute over the latest Israel-Hamas war.
Big Number
$188 million
Office sales volume in Seattle last year through October 2023.