West Seattle - The Story of a Bridge vs a Neighborhood

Speaker 1: [0:09] Hello, hello, and welcome to another edition of the Awesome in Seattle podcast. This is your host Christian Nossum with the Awesome Nossum Group at Wilson Realty, and I have all of my lovely co-hosts. First off, we have the Seattle historian of the group, Reid

Speaker 2: [0:23] Watson. That's me

Speaker 1: [0:26] We have the dog whisperer, Les Cutting. Hey,

Speaker 3: [0:28] hello all.

Speaker 1: [0:29] And the data guru, Jason Saldarriaga.

Speaker 3: [0:32] Hello, y'all.

Speaker 1: [0:35] So today we are talking all about West Seattle. We're gonna focus a little bit more on the West Seattle bridge, but we're talking about West Seattle as well in general, including the closure, how it affected real estate prices, an amazing story of a drunken boat captain that crashed into the bridge many, many years ago that you are definitely not gonna wanna miss. And, uh, an update on when the bridge might open. So, um- Right … first off, let's just con- give kind of an update or, or some background history about West Seattle.

Speaker 3: [1:04] All right. So let's talk about West Seattle a little bit. So just some general statistics. Fun fact, Alki Point was originally going to be the city center of Seattle, but it then was changed. Currently around 80,000 people, uh, live in West Seattle. Um, Seattle already felt of an island because it's a bit detached from the city, and with the bridge closure and, um, only limited routes into West Seattle, it feels even more like an island.

Speaker 1: [1:32] West Seattle in general, when you're over there, if you haven't been over there, you definitely need to, because it does feel like you're on vacation almost, like it's another place. You don't feel like you're a part of the city, especially Alki Beach in the summer. It just, it almost feels like you're in, like, San Diego or some California beach town. It's

Speaker 2: [1:50] almost like a boardwalk in a way. Yeah. Feels great out there.

Speaker 1: [1:53] Exactly. Exactly. It's, it's amazing. One of my favorite places to eat over there is Marination Ma Kai, uh, which is amazing. They have insane shaved ice, like Hawaiian shaved ice. It's a Hawaiian kind of Polynesian-theme marination station, and it's right next to the passenger-only ferry going from downtown to West Seattle. You also have just amazing, beautiful views from West Seattle. Not only on the east side could you see downtown Seattle, but if you go on the west side, you're looking at the Olympics, Puget Sound, and it's, again, you just feel like you're on an island. Before the bridge closed, it actually was not that hard to get downtown. We've helped numerous people buy and sell homes in that area, and they loved the ease and access to downtown. Now with that bridge closure, that's, uh, that's slowed them down a little bit. But with work from home, that hasn't really had that big of an impact for a lot of them. It's also a little bit more affordable in specific spots than other parts of the city.

Speaker 4: [2:57] Exactly. Yeah, so a little background on the amazing bridge closure of 2020. So it, just a, a little background on the bridge itself. It was originally opened in 1984. It was designed to last 75 years. Which means it should have lasted until the year, uh, uh, 2059 or so.

Speaker 3: [3:18] Oh.

Speaker 4: [3:18] Um, we're a good- Not quite. Yeah, we're a good, like, 39 years short. But it's almost halfway. So good job, engineers. I mean, I'm so impressed. The bridge closed in March 2020, which was basically the same time COVID happened. I don't know if y'all have heard of that. It was more or less unexpected. Um, I don't think anybody was betting against the bridge collapsing in Las Vegas or anything. And it was caused by cracked support girders. Minor cracks were o- initially observed during routine inspections in 2013, so they started monitoring and even planning some mitigation strategies at that time. But it wasn't until March 19th of 2020 when a new analysis by structural engineers raised much larger concerns, and then that led to a more intense inspection during which new cracks were observed that were growing exponentially, and the bridge was basically immediately closed. Um, it's a popular bridge. Something like 100,000 drivers and 25,000 transit riders use it every day, or did before it closed. There are some other meth- methods to getting in and out of West Seattle. It's not completely blocked off from the rest of the world. You can use the First Ave South Bridge, the South Park Bridge. There is a ferry, th- a passenger only ferry And the West Seattle lower swing bridge, the Spokane Street Bridge, is still open, but it's limited to transit, freight, commercial, and emergency vehicles. Although general traffic is allowed to use it from 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM.

Speaker 2: [4:56] Oh, great.

Speaker 4: [4:56] Um, you can also swim. I think you can paddle. Hang gliding from High Point might also be an option. So yeah, getting on and off the island of West Seattle.

Speaker 1: [5:08] Yeah, I heard Reid was running, uh, pontoon ferries back and forth as well for a measly fee of $50 a ride. Is that right, Reid?

Speaker 2: [5:14] Yep, I can give you a little tour and everything.

Speaker 4: [5:18] Exactly. Mm-hmm. So what was the impact here really in the grand scheme of things? So due to the shutdown that we experienced because of COVID, the traffic volume throughout the nation decreased dramatically, which really did help mitigate severe congestion. Um, the city also revised many of the traffic signals along the detour routes in order to facilitate better traffic patterns. They even added a temporary signal at Highland Parkway Southwest and Southwest Holden Street, and that's planned to be permanent moving forward. They're working to make that permanent. Um, but regardless, it's still a problem getting on and off the island, and, uh, it will likely only get worse in the short term as traffic returns to the previous levels that we experienced before COVID up until obviously the bridge is repaired.

Speaker 2: [6:07] Yeah, absolutely. And kind of just going off of what Jason said about how this bridge closure really coincided with COVID, let's just talk about some West Seattle stats versus citywide as opposed to speculating wildly about the convergence of COVID and the bridge closure. We thought this might be a little bit more of a straightforward way to do it, especially when it comes to the effect that the bridge closure had on real estate, or did it? So since the shutdown in March, prices have gotten higher in most places in the city. So like, for instance, Beacon Hill prices have risen by 8%, North Seattle about 7%, and in West Seattle we also saw those prices rise just by a little bit less, 4.8%. Rents did lower, however, so fewer renters in West Seattle, but that's also something we've seen citywide. Uh, in West Seattle they're giving a lot of move-in specials to try and attract more people. But even those specials in West Seattle are not nearly as intense as some of the downtown renter specials that you'll see these days with, like, six months free parking plus two months free rent, those types of things. That's a pretty citywide issue still at this point. In the summer, West Seattle had a higher number of new listings than other parts of the city, and those went really quickly. So those houses were still in really high demand. And for those that did leave West Seattle, whether they were renters or left and put their home on the market, they mainly opted to move to the suburbs to get a little bit more space and probably have a similar commute. But this is also a migration pattern that we've seen be really common throughout the city because of COVID. So it seems really as though West Seattle is reacting very similarly to COVID and the fact that the bridge is shut down. I think we'll need to wait until the pandemic subsides a little bit to see what that actual effect is.

Speaker 3: [8:02] All right. Well, let me put on Jason's hat here a little bit, and let's jump into some market stats. So months of inventory stayed stable almost the entire year, about one and a half months. Seattle-wide inventory has been at 1.8 months, so West Seattle has been lower than the city's, meaning there is actually less inventory in West Seattle than the entire city overall. In March, the median days on market in West Seattle was around 11 days, then it dropped to eight days in September and has stayed there. These numbers mirror Seattle as a whole, so that's important to note. I mean, there is activity happening in West Seattle. Overall, West Seattle didn't take that much big of a hit with the bridge closure. Prices didn't go up as much in West Seattle as the rest of the city, but that's pretty much about it. Uh, the inventory pretty much matched the city overall.

Speaker 2: [8:53] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1: [8:53] Absolutely.

Speaker 2: [8:54] And this actually isn't the first iteration of the West Seattle Bridge that we've had. The original bridge was built in 1924, and it was a drawbridge much older but similar to that one that you drive across if you're going south on 99 that kind of puts you over the Duwamish River. The first time that the West Seattle Bridge went under construction was quite the tale, and this story has everything. So- … even in the 1970s, I am sorry to say, the West Seattle Bridge in its original form was a major choke point. There was a lot of traffic going over it, and it really needed to be expanded, but corruption scandals caused a lot of sources to back out, and federal indictments would actually follow those sources backing out of funding, and led to a few convictions of commissioners in '76 and '77.

Speaker 1: [9:47] Whoa.

Speaker 2: [9:48] The chair of Washington State House Highway Committee, Bob Perry, would then become a fugitive to Mexico and eventually Costa Rica for taking so many bribes.

Speaker 1: [9:57] Wow.

Speaker 2: [9:57] So around this point, the federal highway administrator, Norbert Tieman, remarked, and I quote, "Short of a tug knocking it down, which could trigger special bridge replacement funds, there is nothing else, and you certainly wouldn't want to go that route." Well So in 1978, on June 11th, Rolf Nesland drunkenly and negligently piloted the freighter Chavez, and that's a freighter, like one of those big red on the bottom, blue body, huge boats that you see out there by West Seattle. He drove one of those into the West Seattle Bridge. Thankfully, no one was injured, but the damage caused the drawbridge to be stuck open. I just thought this was really hilarious. Charlie Royer was our new mayor, and nobody had his phone number, or his home phone number, so they called Wes Uhlman, the old mayor, at his home and asked him what to do, and he said, "Call the mayor." So there was a big kerfuffle with that. The mayor told them to seize the vessel. That wasn't a big problem, as it was stuck in the bridge. And Rolf Nesland lost his job, moved to Lopez Island with his wife, and met a tragic end that I'll let you all look up on your own. However, that did trigger federal replacement funds, and so that resulted in the new bridge that we now have, which is now broken, being opened in 1984. So that's how we got where we are today.

Speaker 1: [11:31] That's insane.

Speaker 2: [11:32] Yeah, it really does. Mm. And it goes on from there. So rook- look up Rolf Nesland if you want to find out how that story truly

Speaker 1: [11:39] ends. Yes. Uh, you gave me a hint earlier, and it is definitely something you're gonna wanna look up- Yeah … if you enjoy any sort of stra- stories and drama.

Speaker 2: [11:47] Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: [11:48] So to finish that storyline- Yes … the, uh, reopening of the bridge that we currently have that's, uh, wasn't hit by a tug yet, um-

Speaker 1: [11:58] Whoop. Or

Speaker 4: [11:59] freighter … yeah, obviously, uh, the bridge is being worked on currently. Initial emergency stabilization work was completed in January, and that included the installation of nearly 10 miles of steel cables to reinforce the bridge. Now that that work is complete, engineers are working on drafting up the final design and getting permits, procuring all the materials they'll need, and o- obviously selecting contractors, and they're aiming to start construction in earnest in the fourth quarter of this year. The estimate that we currently have is that work will last about a year, so they're hoping that the bridge will open again in the third quarter of 2022. Refer back to this podcast then. See if we are right. It will be interesting to see what happens- Yes … in the real estate market when this bridge does open. Mm-hmm. Obviously, this has impacted West Seattle's local market quite a bit, but when you add in Seattle and the national real estate trends that we're seeing, the next year is likely going to be quite strong if those trends continue to hold true. So I do recommend if you're interested in kind of understanding the real estate impact of this, we recorded a podcast, episode 39, titled 2021 Real Estate Predictions. We go over basically the national and local real estate market, give some predictions, and West Seattle is a part of that. Yep. Don't hesitate to listen to that. That might be helpful.

Speaker 1: [13:32] Perfect. Well, I hope that you enjoyed learning about West Seattle, how awesome it is, how it was or was not affected by the bridge shutting down, and then also the amazing drunken freighter captain crashing into the old bridge story. Definitely if you enjoyed this, you should subscribe to the Awesome in Seattle podcast so you can never miss one of our next episodes. We have over 40 episodes at this point, and we do them every two weeks. So please subscribe, make sure you're listening. Don't miss our next one. And if you want to talk about ever buying or selling, either in West Seattle or anywhere else in the greater Seattle area, feel free to make an appointment. They're free. We just talk with you and see if it makes sense. You can do that right at our website, awesomeinawesome.com/schedule. That's it. Thanks so much for listening, and until next time. Peace,

Speaker 3: [14:25] guys. Bye.

Speaker 2: [14:26] Bye, everyone