Comments

3

geeze, some people would ride their weary, beloved hobby horses through an article about sea lions eating salmon at the Ballard Locks.

4

Really, minority owned business's in Seattle have no support? If this is the case, he should be able to provide some indication of where and hoe systemic racism is currently impacting his business.

5

As someone with an intimate knowledge of the sales and shipments of quite a few businesses(and how everything other than gardening/hydroponics stopped dead), go back and tell the black folks in Atlanta how special you are and what you deserve.

Maybe they'll hand you a broom.

6

All developers have a hard time in Seattle because the people are very conscious of the effects of new buildings on our environment and the impact of parking and traffic to local communities. I think he means that Seattle is tough on developers, not minorities.

7

@6 That's how I read it. Its really hard to secure capital. Banks won't loan money to you unless you already have a whole lot of it.

8

@7: Hence with a lower tax burden you'd have more money to help secure a loan.

10

@8 well, I guess that's true in some abstract sense. But what I mean is these days you basically need 25% down and collateral worth the other 75% to get a commercial mortgage. So in effect, you can't borrow the money unless you already have it. Banks aren't willing to expose themselves to any risk at all, maybe because interest rates are so low. I have no idea what kind of terms are available for construction loans - probably need to fully collateralize those as well.

So 5% on the salary of high paid executives - that's a little sliver of cashflow. Its not going to make any difference at all.

12

Are we supposed to feel bad for this commercial real estate developer? I know he's couching his business as "building wealth" for the minority community but from what we learned from the contents of this article this guy is just a capitalist. He's building wealth for himself.

Unless he's providing a more valuable service not discussed here, I don't see why the state should give him a grant to import face masks from China, make the Post Alley gum wall even grosser than it is, and put up a (likely) shoddy apartment building.

13

This man is way too reasonable for The Stranger.

No self-respecting business wants to develop in a city where the politicians protect the criminals at the expense of law-abiding citizens, while fleecing businesses. Citizens of Seattle can look forward to this business environment forcing more rental properties onto the market and lower the rent cost. Low rent is coming because no one likes to be abused at the hands of local political "leadership."

14

@13: you say that as if low rents are a bad thing.


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