Rising costs pinch merchants and residents

By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Rents for businesses have increased -- in some places to $3 and $4 per square foot per month. That has squeezed retailers who got into business more to sell products they believed in, not pursue windfall profits.

"Rents are getting too high here," says Barbara Bailey, co-founder and owner of Bailey/Coy Books, whose thriving Broadway store is known for stocking gay and specialty publications. "In some places they are almost equal to downtown."

Bailey says a savvy retailer understands his or her niche and can do well. But she worries that changes could flush niche customers away.

"It's a fun street to be on. The eclectic mix of people. I really like that," she says. "But losing a store like Keeg's was a big loss to Broadway. It had good, unique things. Broadway is a great place to shop. If it goes too trendy, you'll lose a whole category of shoppers who otherwise will not come here."

Rising residential rates are an issue, too. Mary Ann Fleck, a former editor for the Capitol Hill Times, does not need a high-tech computer to figure that out.

The two-story home she and her husband once owned at 20th Avenue East and East Prospect Street sold last year for more than $450,000. In 1958, when Fleck's husband was working with computers and she was a homemaker, they bought the four-bedroom house for $12,500.

"It's a pretty amazing economic situation. The funny thing is the homes are sold immediately," Fleck says. "Folks like the location, the convenience to downtown."