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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sr K who wrote (123944)	10/16/2012 1:14:24 AM
From: tejek	Respond to of 149317

How much % is not Amazon and Paul Allen? A great deal. The Amazon/Vulcan projects are located in one small section of downtown..........an area that was pretty run down as recently as ten years ago. That's when Vulcan started to move in and build office and apt bldgs. By mid decade the area was starting to take off with new restaurants and shops opening. The area fronts on Lake Union, which is an attractive anchoring asset. Two years ago, AMZN needed room to expand and had been located outside the downtown area. They moved into some of Vulcan's bldgs.......and what they have done in the past two years is pretty surprising. Haven't looked at their balance sheet but they must have been sitting on a ton of cash.........and they must have suppressed their growth for a number of years while building up a huge demand for office space because they are gobbling down space like its a huge eating contest. But at the end of the day, they are small part of the growth that is happening here. FB, Google, and EMC are all moving into the DT area and growing quickly. MSFT is expanding again. So is Expedia, Nordstroms, Starbucks, Costco, several biotechs and host of other home grown industry. Of course, not all of that expansion is happening in the DT area. However, Boeing has run out of office space and announced a lease DT last year.........the first time in 50 years. Its just a bunch of growth points coming together. Finally, the local millennials like in most American cities have decided they want to live in the city. Consequently, almost all apt construction in the metro area is happening in the city; not the suburbs. Of course, most of the single family construction is still happening in the suburbs. And surprisingly, all this growth is putting pressure on the city's school district which is having to re open elementary schools that they closed as recently as 5 years ago. It turns out the number of school age kids is starting to grow again in the city after decades of decline. Now there is talk of opening an elementary school downtown. Given the history of the average American city during the past 60 years, its quite a reversal.