writer, editor, marketer
As public officials across the country consider when and how to open their economies, the city of Buffalo, New York, is taking a data-driven approach to inform how it flattens the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Continue reading “Buffalo, New York’s Data-Driven COVID-19 Strategy”
Sandwiched between billion-dollar transportation projects and high-end apartments, commercial development in Seattle’s downtown core is skyrocketing.
But given the inevitability of a seismic event in the Puget Sound region, the towers that make up Seattle’s skyline need to withstand shakes and quakes of all magnitudes.
For the 44-story F5 Tower — where the networking company will move in 2019 — on Fifth Avenue and Columbia Street, engineers and architects pushed the boundaries of design — six degrees, to be exact — to prove a new way of building towers in seismic regions.
Continue reading “Seattle’s newest skyscraper is a towering achievement”
The city of Seattle has issued 2,083 demolition permits for single-family or duplex properties since 2012. Year by year, no other neighborhood in Seattle has been as torn down and built up as Ballard.
As the city’s population continues growing and the housing market remains fierce, homebuilders say Seattle residents need to recognize the demand for housing, accept density as the answer and give people precedence over historic status structures.
But when it comes to the value of old charm, some builders say it’s everything.
Continue reading “Seattle tear-downs mapped: Ballard is the epicenter of change”
Alissa Leinonen didn’t think her business would last a year, let alone break $1 million in revenue.
Gourmondo started in 1996 as a four-table lunch spot in Pike Place Market, sandwiched between a tattoo parlor and a cobbler. On a good day they made $60.
“I was grinding on this thing for eight or nine years before I hit the first million,” Leinonen said.
Gourmondo is now the largest woman-owned corporate catering and box-lunch company that’s based in Seattle.
The Puget Sound region’s fast-growing technology industry is full of companies hungry for funding, but much of those investments will not go to women entrepreneurs.
All-women teams received just $22.1 million of the $1.79 billion of venture capital dollars invested in Washington state last year, according to data from PitchBook Inc. That’s 1.2 percent of the venture capital dollars invested in the state.Continue reading “The other 1 percent”
Dreams of that new kitchen or second-story addition could be delayed for many homeowners and homebuyers in Seattle.
This year, the number of remodel permit applications is trending toward a five-year high, stoking demand for skilled labor that’s already in short supply.Continue reading “Skilled labor is in short supply as remodeling permits surge in Seattle”
Ali Ghambari knows what it feels like to have a competitor with almost unlimited resources right next door. In the land of Starbucks, Ghambari owns 10 Cherry Street Coffee House locations around Seattle.
For Ghambari and more than 574,000 other small businesses in Washington state, competition is only one of many challenges they face. The rising cost of health care, recruiting and retention and new regulations make running a small business increasingly difficult.
More than 50 percent of small businesses fail after the first five years, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Even so, these companies have a $702 billion economic impact on the state and employ 1.3 million people. It’s a heroic feat, and that’s why the Business Journal has recognized nine Puget Sound-area business leaders who are driving business growth, job creation and community betterment.Continue reading “Seattle small businesses owners’ big ideas”
Seattle’s housing market has been called many things — “berserk,” “insane,” “unhealthy,” “demoralizing” — and yet there’s one moniker everyone can agree upon: The Seattle housing market is red hot.
Transactions and sales volumes are down, but competition is soaring to the point that nearly one-in-five sales is an all-cash deal in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. At the market’s epicenter in Seattle, the median sales price for single-family homes hit $722,000 in April. The Eastside reached $880,000.
For buyers looking to settle down in the area, the price of admission is increasingly steep.
Continue reading “Cash is king: Seattle’s housing market is demoralizing, but not irrational”
One of the last people to sit at Table 36 was a young airman who called Canlis from overseas to make a reservation for himself and a date.
He had saved up to buy her a dress and take her out while he was home on leave. He wanted her to know how much he appreciated that she stuck by him while he was deployed.
When the restaurant’s owners — and some guests sitting near the young couple — heard the story, they made sure that young airman didn’t pay a penny for the night out.
Perched above Lake Union, the landmark restaurant is known for the swagger of late founder Peter Canlis. But third-generation owners, brothers Mark and Brian Canlis, developed their business strategy in another type of service — the military.
Continue reading “Canlis family’s military history took them from chow hall to wine cellar”
Yasuko Connor doesn’t really want to talk about why her teriyaki shop on Broadway closed after more than twenty years.
“Employees were not honest,” she said, “business was declining so I sold the building.”
Continue reading “Which Seattle small businesses are in developers’ crosshairs”
Melissa Crowe