Once-seedy area now drawing empty-nesters and families alike

By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Downtown housing for all income groups is tight, with the percentage of apartment vacancies in the low single digits. For downtown developers such as Harbor Properties Inc., that's another reason to keep building.

The company built Harbor Steps, the twin apartment towers at the foot of University Street, between First and Western avenues. The 450-unit complex, which has retail shops and the stylish Wolfgang Puck Cafe, is fully occupied. Studio apartments start at $700, while the rent on deluxe penthouse units top out at $4,200 a month.

The company, founded by Stimson Bullitt, is planning an additional 17-story apartment tower on Western and a 25-story tower above it. Construction could start as early as next year and would require demolition of the Oceanic and Erikson buildings, says Stephen Fina, director of marketing.

Both buildings were dilapidated wrecks when Harbor Properties bought them. They were like a lot of run-down buildings on First Avenue: occupied by strip joints, funky bars and marginal businesses before partial renovation in the 1980s.

It wasn't too long ago that First Avenue was known as "Flesh Avenue." Following World War II, it was a strip of rowdy bars, adult theaters and pawn shops, according to Paul Dorpat's history book, "Seattle Now & Then."

The salty character of First and Second avenues is all but gone, replaced by 300 shops and watched over by uniformed "patrol guides" funded by the First and Second avenue business improvement district.

One of the last nude dancing clubs, Deja Vu, and the Fantasy Unlimited sexual paraphernalia shop left their home at First and Pike earlier this month. The building, owned by the Sam Israel Foundation called Samis Land Co., is slated for renovation and new retail tenants.

William Justen, Samis' managing director, says the site may be suitable for a boutique hotel on First Avenue and a residential apartment tower on Second Avenue.

Justen lives up the street in the building he and architect William Bain Jr. helped create: Market Place Tower. It is a unique downtown property with retail shops on the ground floor, office space in the building's mid-section and seven view condominiums on top, each with its own glass greenhouse.

Bain says he grew up on Capitol Hill and lived in Madison Park and Bellevue before moving downtown eight years ago with his wife. "When the kids moved out, it was a perfect thing to do. The great thing now is on many weekends I don't take the car out at all. We walk to movies or a variety of good restaurants, or down to the beach (at Myrtle Edwards Park) and throw rocks in the water."

While the Bains represent the movement of "empty nesters" into downtown, Seattle Public Schools' CFO Olchefske and his wife, Judy Bunnell, are raising a family in the heart of the city.

The couple and their 3-1/2-year-old daughter, India, live in a charming two-bedroom condominium at Market Court on Western Avenue. "Indy" rides her Big Wheel to Pike Place Market and nearby Victor Steinbrueck Park. On weekends, they may walk to the Monorail, ride to the Seattle Center, and catch a Seattle Reign basketball game.

According to the 1990 census, only 25 children under age 10 live in the downtown core. As more people move downtown, it is likely there will be more families. "This was pioneering when we bought 10 years ago," says Olchefske, but that is not true today.

Indy has learned to enjoy burritos from Mondo Burrito on First Avenue and phad thai at Noodle Ranch on Second Avenue, says her mom, who runs the city's Office of Finance and Management. While her parents sip lattes at Tully's on First Avenue, Indy gets a cup of milk.

Bunnell says living downtown has its special moments, like the time a gospel group performing at the Market spotted Indy and broke into a spontaneous rendition of "Old McDonald Had a Farm."

A strong sense of community is felt by all who live downtown, regardless of wealth. Bunnell and many other residents say they feel quite safe walking around their neighborhood at all hours, but crime is a reality downtown.