Seattle Bumps Boston as the Most Expensive U.S. Housing Market That’s Not in California

GeekWire | Kurt Schlosser | October 27

http://www.geekwire.com/2016/seattle-bumps-boston-expensive-u-s-housing-market-thats-not-california/

“The battle for most expensive housing market outside of California has been a neck-and-neck affair for the past several months between Seattle and Boston. But the Pacific Northwest tech capital finally overtook its Northeast counterpart in September, when the median home value in the Seattle metro area hit $401,000. According to data from Zillow, the Seattle-based real estate media company, it’s a significant milestone for Seattle’s housing market, as the only cities ahead of it — out of the top 50 largest metros in the United States — are all to the south in California…The booming tech economy and influx of residents is being led by massive growth at Amazon and the continued strength of Microsoft and other major players in the region such as Expedia.”

 

High-Tech Security Pods at Sea-Tac Airport to Showcase Work of Two Seattle Artists

GeekWire | Kurt Schlosser | October 27

http://www.geekwire.com/2016/high-tech-security-pods-sea-tac-airport-showcase-work-two-seattle-artists/

“Travelers in a hurry to get through security at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport can skip the lines thanks to screening technology from Clear. And the company’s new pods aren’t just state of the art, they actually feature art. Clear, which uses fingerprint and iris scanning technology as an alternative to the traditional check-in process, wants to draw more eyes to its presence at Sea-Tac. New pods being unveiled at the airport will showcase the work of two Seattle artists.”

 

UW Receives Record $210M from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Puget Sound Business Journal | Coral Garnick | October 25

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/health-care-inc/2016/10/uw-bill-melinda-gates-foundation.html

“The University of Washington has received a $210 million donation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to build a home for the school’s initiative to improve population health. This is the largest single donation in UW history. In May, UW President Ana Mari Cauce announced the initiative to develop a 25-year vision to improve population health locally and globally by focusing on three key areas: human health, environmental resiliency and social and economic equity. The Initiative recognizes that the health of an individual or a community involves more than just the absence of disease.”

 

Seattle Closing in on Portland for Crown of Hottest Home Market

Seattle Times | Mike Rosenberg | October 25

http://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/seattle-closing-in-on-portland-for-crown-of-hottest-home-market/

“Seattle-area home prices are now rising at their swiftest pace in 2½ years, and the region is closing in on Portland for the title of fastest-growing home prices in the country. The typical single-family house across Greater Seattle cost 11.4 percent more in August than it did a year ago, according to the new Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday. That’s the eighth straight month of double-digit growth, and the biggest annual increase since March 2014. Home prices grew at a similar rate in 1998 and soared even faster during the lead-up to the mortgage bubble in 2005 and 2006.”

 

UW Plans to Expand Upward in Big Growth Spurt

Seattle Times | Katherine Long | October 24

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/uw-plans-to-expand-upward-in-big-growth-spurt/

“Energized by a thriving tech economy and fueled by a research arm that brings in more than a billion dollars in federal grant money every year, the University of Washington has ambitions to build 6 million additional square feet of academic, office and research space on its Seattle campus. The new buildings would make the university a third larger than it is today, square-footage-wise, as outlined by the UW’s draft master plan, released earlier this month and in the works for years. It’s a plan that “creates a progressive and sustainable framework that will enable the UW’s continued evolution as a 21st-century institution,” said UW senior planner Theresa Doherty.”