Located just north of Downtown Seattle along Elliot Bay on Puget Sound, Belltown is a vibrant neighborhood made up of condominium, loft and apartment buildings. Living in this community means being steps from countless award-winning restaurants, nightclubs, and bars. The area also features the best shopping, including local boutiques and national chains. Belltown has a history of being perceived as unsafe or sketchy, but the neighborhood has come a long way. Although there are a few streets that still hold the reputation, other streets in the neighborhood can be described as lively, rambunctious, and yuppified.
Belltown History
Belltown Seattle is named after William Nathaniel Bell, one of Seattle’s first settlers and on whose land the neighborhood was built. In the early part of the twentieth century, the major regrade flattening project transformed the hill into what is now Belltown (and Denny Triangle). Before the Denny Regrade started in 1897, Belltown sat on one of the tallest hills in Seattle, Denny Hill—which served to isolate the neighborhood from Downtown. During the regrade, some property owners refused to relocate their homes, giving relentless municipal engineers no choice but to dig into the hillside around their property—leaving houses seemingly floating in the air.
Photo Courtesy of The Seattle Times
The evolution of the film and movie industry strongly affected Belltown’s growth through the early 1900s. Virginia Street and Third Avenue in Belltown were home to “Film Row” around 1910.
In the 1970s, the City upzoned the neighborhood as a high-rise residential district. The city had planned to attract young urban professionals, but cheap rent encouraged artists, students, and the musicians to take over the area who established several art galleries, cafes, and clubs—giving Belltown its reputation as Seattle's art district. By the 1980s, investments in new office buildings and condominiums began to change the feel of the area, and Belltown attracted more and more young professionals, evolving into the modern Belltown we know today.
Belltown Today: Urban Living at Its Finest
Today this vibrant community is made up of young professionals, singles, retirees, and families with kids. There are currently 23 new home development high-rises in Belltown that are either planned, under construction, or have been recently completed. Of these, 17 are condo developments. People seek to buy real estate in Belltown for many reasons. Some are tired of losing out on multiple offer homes, others are not interested in purchasing a fixer-upper," and others just want to live and own in a brand new building.
Belltown New Development Spotlight
Located along Belltown’s historic “film row,” The Goodwin exhibits modern, boutique charm. The seven-story structure of brick, steel, and glass stands between the new multi-billion-dollar waterfront expansion, Pike Place Market, and the urban amenities, sights, and sounds of the posh neighborhood.
