Apartment Look

When it comes to condominium development , Cascadia’s two largest cities couldn ’t be more different. Last year nearly 60 percent of new housing starts in the city of Vancouver, BC , were condominiums; meanwhile, Seattle saw no new condominium buildings open . And that’s not changing anytime soon: less than 10 percent of all building slated for downtown Seattle in the next three years will be condos. What’s the difference—why the blossoming of condominium construction in one city and the almost complete dearth in the other? The short answer is economics. In Vancouver, apartments are saddled with an unfavorable tax code , making condos the more lucrative multi- family housing investment even despite high rental demand . In Seattle’s skyrocketing rental market , one that’s climbed even faster than the condo market in recent years, apartment buildings are much more financially attractive, while condos come with bigger risks and, typically, lower returns. Compounding this profit differe...

Six years ago, Mike Brown and Casey Lynch stood on Downtown Boise ’s 8th Street and wondered: Why don’t more people live here? Downtown seemed to have everything that a growing percentage of Americans wanted in a place to live. “I mean, there’s all kinds of jobs. There’s a million coffee shops and hair salons and restaurants, and there’s an active street life ,” says Brown, who founded the Los Angeles- based development company LocalConstruct with Lynch in 2008. Casey Lynch, left, and Mike Brown have made their mark in Boise. Provided by LocalConstruct But in 2011, fewer than 4,000 people lived in Downtown’s scattered apartment and condominium buildings and houses. On a typical weekday afternoon , most Downtown workers got in their cars and put the city in the rearview mirror. Brown and Lynch saw an opportunity. They thought Boiseans would trade ample floor space and vaulted ceilings in the suburbs for smaller, high- end Downtown apartments that offered amenities like gyms, a do...

Fake Tans vs Man Buns In West Hollywood , the coffee shops, cafes, and gyms are overflowing with beautiful people, one more gorgeous than the next. These people, with their technician- administered airbrush tans and perfectly white teeth , can’t shut up about the movie business. At first glance, it may seem that the Silver Lakers are much less image-obsessed, but that perfectly curled mustache took hours to perfect. Why does every man in Silverlake have facial hair and a man bun? Intelligentsia vs Starbucks You’ll find many a Silver Lake resident hanging out at Intelligentsia – home of the coffee snob. You want lots of cream or sugar in your coffee? Brace yourself for heaps of condescension. All coffee should be single brew, don’t you know? There’s only one Starbucks located in Silver Lake proper , whereas there are countless Starbucks peppered throughout WeHo. West Hollywood residents use coffee as fuel for their auditions and/or business deals and simply don’t have all day to si...