Microsoft Keeps Issaquah Apartments in Investors Minds

In mid-January the Redmond-based software giant unveiled a model of its current projection of how its Issaquah Highlands campus could eventually look. Microsoft has already closed on 35+ acres of its 150 optioned acres in the 2,200-acre master planned community. Over time, the company says it could build as many as 15 buildings holding as many as 2.9 million sf and 3,000 employees—employees that investors may find their way to local apartments.

With such a significant increase in jobs in a small town where commute traffic often seems to resemble a waking nightmare, Swanson says some investors are banking that some of those employees will be looking to rent close to work.

Issaquah investors aren't in the market for the short term, says Swanson. A snapshot of the last six months, he says, would include a vacancy increase in the vicinity of three to four percentage points. ""But things seem to be getting better," Swanson remarks."People I've been talking to lately say it appears to be stabilizing some."

Just this week, Swanson closed a $537,500 deal on a six-unit multi-family property at 26-28 NE Dogwood Street. Each unit in the two triplexes has one bedroom and measures out at about 550 sf.

The property, set on an 18,000-sf lot, was developed in 1984 by the sellers, Mr. And Mrs. Bob Beebe, whom Swanson says own between 60 and 70 units in Issaquah and other Eastside communities. The local buyer was Barton Hartzell.

With the restrictions on new development currently imposed by the City of Issaquah, no new, large projects will be approved anytime soon. Because of the gridlock on local streets, Issaquah is approving applications only for developments generating three-or-less peak p.m. commutes. One loophole in the net is for senior housing projects, which Swanson says the city will consider on the basis that seniors are less likely to add to the numbers of daily commuters.