Comments on: Burien Town Square â€“ Success To Be? Or Future Ghost Town?

By: Burien Towne Square | SusanIsMyRealtor

Burien Towne Square | SusanIsMyRealtor — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:24:40 +0000

[...] Please enjoy these links to recent articles on the status of Burien Towne Square. The first was published in The Seattle Times June, 2009, the second is from our friends at the B-Town Blog [...]

By: moverlake

moverlake — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:43:20 +0000

I just performed a quick rental calculation for a representative small retail Town Square space: 1200′ sq. X $28 divided by 12 months = $2800 per month. That seems like a lot of money in low-traffic downtown Burien in the midst of the “Great Recession.” Basically, no startup could risk it and no existing retailer needs new, risky, low-traffic space in this economic downturn.

I think Leibsohn’s Mr. Waldbaum made a mistake to even refer to their listed rates. I’d guess that they’re not going to get anything like that right now for most of those spaces. I hope the property owners are willing (and able per the financing contracts) to accept much less rather than get nothing at all.

Otherwise it WILL remain a ghost town. Anybody notice how much vacant space remains in the new Normandy Park/First Avenue South retail mini-mall development? I fear that even if Town Square cut the rental rate by half, they’d still have trouble finding tenants in this time, when commercial property all over the country is going begging, and more retailers and other businesses are closing than are opening.

But, if they did that, they might have a chance. Otherwise, we’ll be seeing empty storefronts for the next year or more.

By: brooke

brooke — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:22:15 +0000

i think the town square’s is going to make a fine city center…as long as burien finds businesses to populate it. if the town center gets more, and desirable, businesses…the town center will have no problem filling the condos.

look at renton, they tried this is reverse. build a bunch of condos, fill them, then get business. it haven’t had a lot of success.

business will bring in people!

we’ve got a great brewery, a new great coffee house, and plenty fo resturants; now let’s try for a record store, a bookstore, and other amendenties that will keep residents shopping [and spending] locally!

burien, let’s not lose momentum!

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:10:23 +0000

I still say the olf bells building(bells, lamonts, gotschalks) would have made a great convention center for the city- and it was already built. As for the condos= I am not selling my 1500 square foot home to buy a 600 square foot condo. And I agree with mark- the cofee shop across the street is wonderful and smart for their remodeling. And he pays less to be in the neighborhood.
Be that as it may- I have to say the space is wonderful, the park is nice. So I am joping for much success to it.

By: mark

mark — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:18:42 +0000

Burien town square has been the proposed crown jewel by Burien City council for years.
A ambitious project, it ran into a number of problems, first and foremost was the down turn in the economy and secondly was the high prices asked for both retail and residential space.. I believe that there would have been more purchases in the beginning if pricing had be more resonable. I have stated before that I never understood why prime realesate had to be used for a cityhall, which could be placed almost anywhere and also why library had to relocated from its previous wonderful location. I find it ironic to think about how much money would have been saved (renting of a temporary location for BCC) that could have been used elsewhere in this project. Despite these drawbacks, I believe that the town square will be asset to the community especially when the remainder of the property isdeveloped. I believe that market forces will eventually prevail, that prices will fall, and buyers will come.

By: warren

warren — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:30:29 +0000

I have been considering a condo at the new town square. But the vacant retail is not a good sign. As far as what types of business would lease a space? I don’t know, but a stationary store and spa aint going to give me what I need. A new coffee shop opened across the street, where rents are more affordable. The coffee shop is great by the way, I go there all the time. I have been told by a local business owner that the spaces are too large and too much $. 32 dollars a square foot are Bellevue Square prices. If you want to fill it up the price must come down, both residential and retail. Some visionary got Burien, Bellevue, and Bell Town mixed up. Those prices just wont work here, sorry.