Projects are no longer financed with only the developer's name as equity. There will be faster reactors in the late '90s than in the '80s. Nature's limits Beyond the prospect of oversupply are other factors that will limit Puget Sound's growth, including geography and traffic. The water and mountains that define the Puget Sound region act as a natural restraint to growth. As available land decreases, developers are forced to build on increasingly odd-shaped parcels with irregular topography, wetlands mitigation requirements and other environmental constraints, driving up costs and making the region less attractive to new companies.
Traffic also concerns developers.
State officials say the number of car trips on local roads has doubled in metropolitan Seattle in the last two decades, while roads have increased only 10 percent. Chronic traffic trouble spots like the Renton S-curves can be enough to discourage a growing company from expanding in Renton, Costello adds. For now, though, the construction boom continues as announcements of more proposed developments become daily events. Why not, when a developer like Quadrant breaks ground on 72,000 square feet of office, research and development space north of Lynnwood and leases 40 percent of it before its scheduled April completion. I think the '80s are not that far in the past.