Our development community has rapidly entered a new era of challenges in the permitting and entitlement processes. In response to this new level of challenge, we are pleased and excited to announce the formation of The Seattle Land Use Company. This partnership is led by Michael Pollard and Alchemy Real Estate.
Since the land use code change in 2010, our city has seen unprecedented growth and change which has brought many new challenges to the building and development industry. Complete city blocks have been rebuilt in the span of 2 years, and the drastic change has not gone unnoticed. In response to neighborhood pushback, City and Utility policy-makers continually put measures in place which is creating a more challenging and costly development environment. These measures come in the form of requirements like utility extensions, right of way improvements and design review.
As the level of complexity has increased in the development process, additional sets of hands are needed to help deliver a quality finished product in a timely manner. As you well know, every quality surveyor, civil engineer, geotech, architect, and city planner are currently understaffed and behind schedule. Consultants are fighting off new work and barely completing contracted work before moving on to the next task. This again makes development difficult, as the response time from consultant’s increases and their quality of work diminishes. These consultants are not at fault; they have their own internal business challenges that must be met every day while being bombarded by work from key customers, none of which want to be told that their next job cannot be accepted. Furthermore, these consultants are often being given too little direction, with no reduction of expectation or consistent guidance from the client.
We regularly see the following scenario: Your favorite agent just called you about a property that might hit the market in a few days. They give you an address and may even have a price. You scramble to understand whether this represents a real opportunity. You check with your go-to architects for help in feasibility and find they want to help, but are just too busy to respond as quickly as you would like. You receive some direction on highest and best use, but do not get the full picture on opportunities and obstacles. Like clockwork, your agent pushes for increasing your earnest money commitment and an earlier closing date. To fill your pipeline, you push forward and follow your agent’s advice. After closing, you discover that storm drainage service is not available for your property without extending the storm main. What was a quick and easy project has now been encumbered with an added layer of complexity, cost and time in an already difficult process.
Unfortunately, this scenario is one that we’ve seen play out all too often. It is time to turn the tables back in your favor. The Seattle Land Use Company was formed to help combat the unknown during feasibility and to help our clients navigate the complex world of entitlement. We are here to help you:
- Identify problems ahead of time
- Develop solutions to minimize construction costs
- Help your design consultants work together efficiently
- Produce a quality plan set
- Move your permits through the city as quickly as possible
Collectively, The Seattle Land Use Company has designed and permitted more than 500 homes in the Seattle Market since 2012, with more than 200 land use and building permits issued. In addition to solving construction, design and permitting problems, our team brings over 50 years of success in the real estate and development industries, with over 3,400 new home sales. Our partnership pairs our acquisition, development, land use, design and permitting experiences all together under one banner.
We can be of service to you. Please see our list of services. Please call or email for a quote specific to your project.