Escala

Yes, this is Christian Grey’s building from the Fifty Shades of Grey movie. Yes, you will see people snap photos of the building weekly and ask you if you have the penthouse suite. But, don’t be fooled– this is real life and this building is better than the movie! This place has a state-​of-​the-​art gym, spa, movie theater, wine cellar, wedding venue, outdoor fireplace, full kitchen for catering, ²⁴⁄₇ doorman, parking, bike parking, storage, business center, etc. Beyond the perks, it is a beautiful building with character and class bridging new and old. Living here is eating all the Top Pot Donuts you want and all of them are zero calories!

I’ve lived downtown for over eight years. First as a renter, now as an owner at Escala. In that time, I have toured nearly every major condo development in Seattle looking for that perfect place to call home. Escala is hands down the best value and one of the nicest places to live in Seattle. I’m a little surprised by the criticism below. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but I’ve never heard anyone say, «Gee, this gym isn’t crowded enough.»
It is true that the bar, club, spa, and retail spaces were underutilized but that has obviously changed with time. Still, its easy to understand why early residents may have been discouraged. Escala was one of the last major developments completed during the market collapse, and given that it was one of the most expensive, it didn’t sell. So its clear why it suffered from low occupancy and underutilized amenities. While that may equate to a failure for the developer it is hardly a knock against the property itself. Eventually, bowing to market pressure, prices were dropped, HOA dues reduced, and policies changed. Which turned Escala into the best overall value in the city. Aside from the common amenities and public parking for guests (very rare for downtown condos), each unit has private parking, a storage locker, and the largest exterior decks of any development in Seattle (150 sf. on a typical 2bd).
The building’s location is also terrific. How anyone can describe it as «no man’s land» is beyond me? It’s centrally located between Belltown and downtown. The Seattle Center, Westlake Center, Pacific Place, and Pike Place Market are all close while Pioneer Square, SODO and the stadiums are reachable on foot or light rail. The South Lake Union Trolly stop and the Monrail are only one block away. It’s also only four blocks to Victor Steinbrueck Park and a mile from Olympic Sculpture Park. Escala is literally in the middle of everything! Having lived in West Edge, Belltown, and lower Queen Ann, I would say its hard to find a better location anywhere downtown.
We’re also apparently supposed to be terrified that a shooting occurred nearby a couple years ago. This is sad, but certainly not common. And not a knock one way or the other against Escala, or the dozens of other condos within a half mile of downtown. Probably a drug deal gone bad, which isn’t a situation I expect to find myself anytime soon. But crime is a sad fact of life in any neighborhood. Not just downtown. I’ve never felt unsafe at Escala. And downtown Seattle is incredibly safe relative to many cities. But if you’re afraid of such things, feel free to move to the burbs where there is «never any crime.»
As far as noise is concerned, Escala’s sound proofing is great. Much better than many places I’ve visited, but there’s no getting around the fact that you will hear traffic, sirens, buses, the duck tours, and even the occasional protest. This isn’t any different than anywhere else downtown where the noises of the city are ever-​present. If you are concerned about such things then city living may not be for you.
Bottom line. There are plenty of wonderful places to live in downtown Seattle but Escala easily one of the very best. It has a great location, fantastic design, terrific amenities, unique features, wonderful fixtures, nice finishes at all levels, and have proven to be an excellent value for they money. It’s hard to see how you can go wrong with Escala.

Pure awesome.

By far the best condo building in Seattle (amenities, location, staff, square footage, interior design and price)
I read a review below which said the place is vacant I.e. Gym, club… etc. I personally think… how awesome is that! U get a top built and rated condo building in downtown Seattle all for yourself and ur friends.
Escala will eventually sell out. But till that time if you could afford a unit here it’s your best bet in seattle… as amazon, bill/​melinda gates foundation, all of south lake union are experiencing an hiring spree which will surely turn up demand in the next 6 months for quality living spaces and I know Escala will be on the short list.
I have thrown 3 parties in their club rooms and they have always been a smash.
Columbia hospitality runs this property like a 5 star hotel with ALL staff extremely attentive to home owners demands.

So after reading a few reviews bashing this place and even though I wanted to wait until about the 6 month mark after purchase to review it. I have decided to give a first month first impression review as a resident. After hunting all over the city looking at condo’s it came down to 3. Olive 8, Fifteen twenty-​one and Escala. It was decided that Escala was the best overall of the 3. I liked the amenities at Olive 8 but there was an extra fee to use them and the neighborhood around Fifteen twenty-​one is questionable even though it had stellar views.
So, we purchased a unit on a floor above 20 facing the Northwest corner. The view is amazing you get the entire sound and the Space needle. I can sit on the deck for hours and just stare. The picture I posted is an actual picture from the deck and not some stock photo. If you look down you stare right at the Tom Douglas food triangle on 4^th. Which is another unreal positive. YES there are city sounds but, what do you expect? Hence the city living part however, even with the large windows the place is fairly quiet. Coming from a place on the 8^th floor in Chinatown this place is like living in the forest.
So the amenities… The gym is pretty awesome, bigger than Fifteen Fifty-​one and cleaner than Olive 8. Yes, I loved the pool at Olive 8 but, the gym there is busy and always being used by hotel guests. I am not sure why 1 reviewer complained about this gym being empty? That is my favorite part! I have used this gym probably 10 times in the past month and have seen probably 5 other people. It is like having a high end club all to yourself. The equipment is really nice and the cardio machines all have cable tv. The place also has a hot tub and infinity pool. The place is also really clean which is my biggest pet peeve of gyms.
I do agree a little with the empty restaurant being a negative but, it would be a great place to hold an event if I needed it. I can’t wait for the day to actually have an operating bar there. The theatre is also really cool here and most of the time not being used.
I really like the concierge staff here, they are always friendly even though I know they are so bored all the time and really want to get them an iPad or something. I do feel secure here though with having the 24 concierge and all the extra security devices needed to get around.
The location is perfect for a person like me that loves high end food so much and shopping. You have all the Tom Douglas restaurants and then downtown shopping is only a few blocks away.
My only complaint so far is that there is only 5 guest parking spots and that our parking spot is 5 floors underground. But other than that I think this is best choice if one wanted to live downtown.

A man was shot to death about a block away, today, 4÷7÷14, so keep that in mind when you read the positive reviews here about how great a neighborhood this building is in. He’s still at large so hopefully you don’t run in to the killer at night.
Nice housing but with plenty of caveats.
This is a great example of the lack of know how in the fly by night real estate industry. Were the tech industry run by these types of people, I woudln’t be writing this as the internet wouldn’t yet be in common use.
Escala was originally envisioned as a luxury property who’s owners would subsidize a private 25k sq ft club space that would be offered to outside members. Sound like a stupid idea? It was. It led to huge HOA dues and they changed it.
Of course, that means that there’s a vast array of space in the building that you pay for that doesn’t get used. The private massage areas and huge bar/​restaurant they market as being there for your private use. Most buildings have a nice common area that you can sign up and use when you want to have a party? Escala? Nope, huge private area that you have to RENT. That’s right, pay huge HOA dues now and you don’t even get a great space to use. To boot, it was supposed to be a large private restaurant. That space could have made for a lot of features for the building. More gym space, a game room, business areas, etc. Instead it’s an unused space that just sits there that residents have to pay for.
Escala has nice units. They’re modern and well built with gas and nice appliances. The location isn’t amazing. You’re sort of in no man’s land between downtown, Belltown and Lake Union. There’s not much parks or recreation anywhere nearby and all you see when you look around is grey.
Here are bad points about the units. They designed them well and then used whatever space was leftover for the bathroom. The bathrooms are set wtih nice fixtures, but they’re just a mess in terms of design.
In terms of the realtors and selling approach there, you go to the upstairs lobby, they give you some info, have you fill out a bunch of private information (I suggest you use fake information) and then take you either to the amenities or to a unit. Here’s where things go bad.
You see the failed amenities. Most of the space was meant for the now defunct club and you’ll have to pay a rental fee to use it. No other condo really does that in downtown. Then they take you upstairs. They list their price points publicly, but they are loss leaders. They aren’t really available and what you see will be $ 80−200k more that what you expect.
The other shady thing they do is in listing the square footage. When they want to talk about the size of the condos, they include the hall area outside of your unit and patio. When they want to talk $/​square foot, they use the actual space. It’s a sleezy practice to me.
They’re not as horrible as the gallery crew, but they certainly could do things better. The units are currently overpriced. In buying one, you’ll pay as much as people did a year ago when there were better units available. Of course, the market has gone down quite a bit since then. I’d wait until their prices come down again.