As downtown Seattle offices empty, city facing years of 'zombie' towers

Other: real estate market analysis(seattletimes.com)view on HackerNews
downtown Seattleoffice spacevacancy ratereal estate marketeconomic analysis

Author: petethomas

Date: 7/4/2026

Article Summary:
Downtown Seattle's office space vacancy rate is at 37%, with iconic towers like the U.S. Bank Center nearly half empty, and experts predicting it may take eight more years to refill the current surplus, even if demand returns to pre-pandemic levels.