New Study on Seattle Traffic Lauds Efforts by Amazon, Bill & Melinda Gates and Others

GeekWire | Nat Levy | June 1

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/new-study-seattle-traffic-lauds-efforts-amazon-bill-melinda-gates-others/

“Last year, a coalition of Seattle’s top business and political leaders unveiled a new effort called Challenge Seattle, with a goal of finding new solutions to the region’s traffic problems, and now the group is out with its first annual report, tracking progress of its initiatives and setting goals for the future. One of the big victories so far, according to the report, is a reduction of people driving alone to work. Some of the regions biggest companies, like Amazon, Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are involved in the group and have been providing employees with incentives to keep them from driving to work alone. According to the report, among Challenge Seattle participants, only 16 percent of commuters heading downtown drove in alone in 2016, and in South Lake Union, that figure was 31 percent.”

 

Why the Pacific Northwest Will Be a Data Center Powerhouse for Years to Come

GeekWire | Tom Krazit | May 31

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/pacific-northwest-will-data-center-powerhouse-years-come/

“Abundant clean energy sources, business friendly tax incentives, and new undersea fiber-optic cables will keep the Pacific Northwest as one of the most important regions in the U.S. data center industry for a long time to come, according to speakers at The Greater Portland Data Center Summit Wednesday. “There’s an enormous amount of demand left in the pipeline,” said Jeff West, director of data center research at CBRE, during the CAPRE Media event. “Providers are getting more comfortable building speculative space around the country.” Over the last decade, Washington and Oregon have increasingly welcomed the powerful data centers that run the tech industry on the West Coast. That includes not just the big cloud players and the likes of Facebook and Apple in Central Washington and Eastern Oregon, but owners and operators of co-location facilities and leased data centers, many of which are located just over the hill from Portland in Hillsboro.”

 

Glassdoor: 107K Jobs Open in Seattle, Pay on the Rise

Seattle PI | Daniel DeMay | May 31

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Glassdoor-107k-jobs-open-in-Seattle-pay-on-the-11186798.php

“Seattle’s economic boom is pushing up salaries and keeping unemployment low. That’s according to the latest local pay report from job search website Glassdoor.com, detailing the median base pay for a host of different jobs and industries in the Seattle metro region. Seattle’s median pay for all jobs has increased 2 percent in a year, just a hair behind the national trend of 2.1 percent. The unemployment rate reported by Glassdoor is 3.7 percent, which is actually higher than the 2.8 percent rate reported by the Washington Employment Security Department for April.”

 

Seattle Named One of Top U.S. Cities for Innovation

Puget Sound Business Journal | David Allison | May 30

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2017/05/30/seattle-named-one-of-top-cities-for-innovation.html

“Innovation Leader, a magazine and website focused on innovation in large companies, today released its 2017 list of the top North American cities for corporate innovation and R&D activity, with Seattle appearing at No. 5…The Seattle area’s tech scene is anchored by tech giants Amazon and Microsoft, the report said. “Microsoft’s campus dominates the suburb of Redmond, with buildings numbered 1 to 127; Microsoft Research, co-led by Peter Kim and Jeannette Wing, is located in Building 99. Amazon is responsible for an on-going multi-billion-dollar building boom in downtown Seattle.”

 

Seattle Housing Market Tops Nation in Bidding Wars and Price Gains

Seattle Times | Mike Rosenberg | May 30

http://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/seattle-housing-market-tops-nation-in-bidding-wars-and-price-gains/

“As Seattle tops the country for home price growth for the seventh straight month, the local real estate market has gotten so competitive that it’s now nearly impossible to avoid a bidding war. The monthly Case-Shiller home price index, released Tuesday, showed single-family home prices across the Seattle metro area in March increased 12.3 percent from a year prior — the fastest growth in more than three years. The local price gains, again easily the largest of any major metro, were more than twice the national average of 5.8 percent. Even compared to a month prior, Seattle-area prices rose 2.6 percent — also by far the fastest growth in the country and more than three times the national average.”