I finally attended the Veer Lofts information session

Today I attended the informational session for the Veer Lofts along with about ten other people. They start you off with a 7 minute inspirational/aspirational video about neighborhoods and an overview of the South Lake Union neighborhood. Then they take you to their model of downtown Seattle and show you what’s been built and what’s going to be built. Next we went to a small conference and received a handout:

Handout

Veer Elevation Hosted on Zooomr

Veer Flat Floorplate Hosted on Zooomr

Veer Flexi Floorplate Hosted on Zooomr

Veer Full Floorplate Hosted on Zooomr

Veer Loft Price Ranges Hosted on Zooomr

Plus the floor plans I posted earlier (an astute attendee noticed that there were some changes between the floor plans in the power point deck they showed and what got handed out, so keep in mind that things are still in flux).

We then watched another inspirational video this time about Veer and then they went through a power point deck. Here is mostly what was on the power point deck plus some other details thrown in:

Building

• 99 units
• 6 floors
• 2 levels of underground parking (104 spots)
• Johnson Architects
• Boxwood Interior Design
• Walsh Construction
• Views look good in all directions
• Pet friendly

Green Features

• Drought tolerant landscaping (becuase it doesn’t always rain in Seattle?)
• Storm water rentention (for when it does rain)
• Low emitting non toxic materials
• Natural daylighting and ventilation (if you want A/C you should buy at Rollin)
• Recycled building materials (they’re trying to source locally within 500 miles of Seattle)
• Recycling collection
• Covered bike storage (because you can’t afford both a new car and a new condo, remember you’re a first time home buyer)
• High performance window wall

Exterior

• Metal
• Hardi panel siding
• Decks
• Eurostar windows

Building amenities

• Roof top deck on the 2nd floor w/gas grill
• Bocce ball court
• Secure lobby
• 1500 sq feet of retail at street level
• 2 elevators
• Bike rack
• Storage units for everyone
• Parking for everyone

Flat

• Sqft: 620-780
• Ceiling height: 9′
• Price: Mid 200’s to Mid 400’s
• These are on the 2nd and 3rd floors

Flexi

• Sqft: 600-740
• Ceiling height:13′ overall. 8′ under loft, loft area is 5′
• Price: Low 300’s to High 500’s
• These are on the fourth and fifth floors
• Loft doesn’t have railings to keep you from falling over the edge
• The suggestion was that you would need a lot of friends to come over to help you get your bed into the loft since there is only a ladder
• Loft square footage not included in total square footage since it’s technically not a living space
• They are building a model Flexi unit in the SLU Discovery Center so you can see how bad the 5′ ceilings and weird bannana fibre countertops are in person

Full

• Sqft: 800-1060
• Ceiling height:16′ overall. 8′ under loft, loft area is 8′
• Price: Low 500’s to Mid 600’s
• These are on the 1st and 6th floors
• Metal stairs and metal railing
• Top floor units have zen gardens that you step out of a window to get to (the window starts at 24″)

Unit 611

• Not available through the lottery
• Largest unit at 1300 sq feet plus a ‘huge terrace’
• For ‘first time penthouse buyers’ (they said this with a straight face)

Interiors

• Heavy timber
• Heavy wood car decking
• Concrete floor (2-3″ thick over the wood timber)
• Electric forecd air
• Whirlpool appliances

Upgrades

• Acrylic panels to hide sleeping areas
• Bartops
• Terazzo tile backsplash
• Ceramic tile for tub and shower
• marmoleum flooring in bathroom (that heals itself!)

Catches

• 5% earnest money
• Two 2200 owners will get drawn first in the lottery
• You may not be able to rent your unit for the first two years (details aren’t finalized yet, if you think this might affect you call Vulcan for the latest status).
• There is a chance that if you sell your unit within two years the profit is returned back to the developer through a lein on the property (details aren’t finalized yet, if you think this might affect you call Vulcan for the latest status).

Unknowns

• HOAs TBD (for reference 2200 is $0.50/sq ft and they have a lot of amenities)

What else?

They spent a lot of time stressing how this is an opportunity for first home buyers and buyers who otherwise couldn’t afford to live downtown. There was talk about the ‘artificially low’ pricing and the ‘catches’ that will eliminate investors and flippers. What I don’t understand is that if this is geared towards first home buyers why the preference to 2200 owners? Why the 5% earnest money? Why not more affordable flats as opposed to pricey full height lofts?

Overall I found the John L Scott representatives to be very informative, honest, and quite convincing :). I also attended the Rollin Street session and will post that later, I also have handouts from Enso and further thoughts on the whole big picture.