Brix has had it’s share of problems.  It’s finally open and it’s retail portions seem to be doing well.  Personally, I love having Vivace close by and I finally tried to a chocolate martini from Dilettante and it was amazing.  But it sounds like on the business/ condo side things aren’t going any smoother. 

Via Urbnlvn, In January Brix sent a letter to condo owners stating that;

Because of the dispute over the amount owed Clark, it is possible that Clark will file suit on the lien and name you as a defendent because you now own a portion of the condominimum.

Then yesterday, Katwall Inc a contractor that was brought in to replace WG Clark, had this to say in the comments;

The Brix LLC letter is a joke. Don’t get involved. Run to another condo!!!!!

...they REFUSE to pay me the retention they held on the payment amount they agreed on… they owe us $ 74,000.00. This after I gave them about $ 40,000 free pick up work and then they changed my last invoice to about $ 50,000.00 less than they owe....

TODAY (MARCH 5, 2009) I AM FILING A NEW LIEN AND I AM OWED THE MONIES NOTED ABOVE BUT, I am only going after the retention. Brix LLC wants to make a deal at $ 7,500.00 but, they clearly owe more. I am a female owned company and I am a little guy in the business word, the kind or business these Brix people are out to destroy and put out of business so they won’t owe them anymore.

Sounds like a huge mess.

Ben Kakimoto takes a look at 2008 condo appreciation (or depreciation) rates and finds that "condo values for most neighborhoods declined in 2008 from the prior year" except Alki, Admiral, Junction, Downtown, Fauntleroy and Leschi, which saw average sale prices rise.

Capitol Hill condo sale prices declined 1.2% from $315,000 to $311,250 on average. The problem with the way this measure was calculated is that it doesn't actually represent declining (or rising) values -- it merely represents averages of transactions. A single development of smaller-than-average condos, for instance, is enough to skew a neighborhood's results. The December auction of 15 Press Condos probably single-handedly dragged down the average.

1111 East Pike (artist's rendering)

That said, sellers are having to price much more aggressively, sales volume fell as loans became harder to obtain and as potential buyers were spooked by economic turmoil, and we're in a recession and stuff, so it's probably still...

A comment buried in an older post about previous unfortunate run-ins with Brix construction workers caught my eye. Dita reports:

I was walking northbound on eleventh ave. btwn. Mercer and Aloha when two of the hispanic construction workers were walking behind me about a hundred yards or so. I crossed the street (on the Lowell Elementary payground side) and one of them quickly walked across the street towards me and began following me a couple feet behind me. I turned around and saw thwe most creepy look on his face and just then a woman appeared and I started to walk with her.

Andersen Construction is now running the construction show at Brix. I have no idea if these workers are rollovers from WG Clark -- which lost its job -- who supposedly received a "talking to" about why harassing women is not OK. On the one hand, I understand that a company can't control what their staff do when not technically on-the-job. But on the other hand, they represent the company and it is obviously terrible PR to let it continue...