The Landlords' New Playbook: How Seattle's Elite Are Cornering the Housing Market
In a move that mirrors today’s corporate housing boom, lumber barons Yesler, Foster, and Lowman are launching a massive development on Broadway to control supply and dictate prices for new arrivals.
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The urgent necessity for newer dwelling houses, to which the building industry has frequently called attention, has led to a very important enterprise on the part of Mr. H. L. Yesler, George Foster and J. D. Lowman. These gentlemen, it is well known, are largely interested in the manufacture of lumber, and are also holders of fine residence property. They have organized themselves into a company for the accomplishment of these resources in a way which will involve a great public benefit.
The plan is to put up dwellings for sale or rent to those who want them on Broadway, north from Madison street to Longfellow Terrace. The situation is very fine and the building of each new house adds to its attraction as a place of residence. Broadway is the largest level street in the city. It affords a series of beautiful views. It is in an elevated and pure air, wholly free from the contaminations of the business and manufacturing districts. It is of easy and cheap access by the new car line.
It is proposed to give purchasers or tenants choice of certain lots, and then to put up houses upon plans to suit individual taste. This of course, within restrictions designed to conserve the taste and value of the immediate property and of the district. It is believed by many that Broadway, to which the new enterprise will be confined, with the streets in its neighborhood, are destined to be among the best in the city, and that they will, in time, form an exceptionally desirable and fashionable quarter of the city.
At Longfellow Terrace, which lies a little north of the Broadway property of Mr. Lowman and his associates, there will soon be a very considerable community. Among those who have recently bought in this tract with the purpose of building and making their homes are Messrs. Lowman, Stuart, McNaught, Hallard, Hunt, Heibum, with many others.
The gentlemen who are going into this enterprise deserve the thanks of the city, for they will supply a want that is now a serious need. No other enterprise, either in the way of business or even pure benevolence, could be of more value to Seattle at this time when people are coming in scores and unable in many instances to find dwellings.
This 1890s development scheme by lumber magnates H.L. Yesler, George Foster, and J.D. Lowman is a striking precursor to modern corporate housing developments. Just as these industrialists used their capital to control land supply on Broadway during Seattle's boom, today’s institutional investors and developers often dominate neighborhoods, driving up rents and limiting affordable options for individual buyers. The 'urgent necessity' they cited was real, but the solution—controlled, high-end development by a few wealthy owners—raises the same questions about who benefits from urban growth that we face now.
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