WSB
Belatedly reading this thread – I’ve seen this story all too many times in just our past year and a half or so of tracking development. There was a sad little lesson in this somewhat similar story from June of last year:
https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=1832
There are so many teardowns-to-townhomes still in progress, I can’t guess which is yours by reading this, but if you wouldn’t mind me looking it up to put on our watch list, please e-mail me at
Meantime, anyone contemplating any kind of move anywhere at any time would be strongly urged to read absolutely every shred of available background on the property, whether you are selling or renting. Sounds like that might have prevented this situation – permits are often applied for long before those yellow signs go up. To check any address in Seattle, for permits/complaints present or past,
http://web1.seattle.gov/DPD/permitstatus/
To check the property ownership history, use the King County Parcel Viewer
http://www.metrokc.gov/gis/mapportal/Pviewer_main.htm
If you’re thinking about renting an apartment complex, always worth checking to make sure it’s not up for sale. Not all commercial/multifamily properties get publicly listed, I’ve learned, but I keep an eye on this site and report WS complexes up for sale – ones with more than a few units, anyway – when they are posted, because of having heard so many times about tenants being the last to know (in this search engine, choose multifamily in the top group and West Seattle in market area):
http://www.commercialmls.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=property.searchFS
meantime … good luck finding a new residence fast!
–TR