Help us buy La Quinta, our home. The property is for sale, however the owners are not willing to sell to us, the tenants.

The last thing Seattle needs is more people pushed out of their affordable housing.  The last thing anybody in Seattle wants to see is more “luxury apartments.”

We are a tight knit community of renters on Capitol Hill: we are artists, writers, nonprofit workers, single mothers and children, some of us latinos, and most of us queer. Less than two weeks ago, we discovered that our home was being put on the market. Some of us have lived here for over 15 years. Many of us organized more recently to get La Quinta recognition as a historic landmark, and were successful. No matter what happens, the exterior of the building will remain preserved for future tenants or homeowners, however the interior may not be so lucky.  Additionally, if purchased by the current buyer, it will likely become unaffordable to live in this place that we have worked hard to preserve. 

As tenants, we are willing and able to purchase La Quinta collectively, as a cooperative. However, our landlord has refused us the opportunity to purchase, preferring to sell to a buyer who can purchase in cash.

Please sign our petition to help advocate for our chance to match the highest bidder and buy our home!

Follow our fight to stay in our homes at #vivalaquinta

And feel free to review the letter we delivered this morning to our landlord (below)

 

To: Stakeholders in the Sale of La Quinta Apartments

From: Undersigned Tenants

Date: August 9, 2021

Subject: Tenant Interest in Sale of La Quinta Apartments

Summary: The undersigned tenants are broadly interested in engaging with the sale process with the goal of staying in their units long term. If possible, they would like the opportunity to explore the goal of converting La Quinta Apartments to a cooperative model.

Everyone agrees: The La Quinta Apartments are a special place. Tenants love living here. Several have lived in the building for over a decade, and a little one you’ll see running through the courtyard knows nowhere else, having lived here since she was a month old. 

Thanks in part to this fierce loyalty, the city now also recognizes La Quinta as a special place. The building stands as a unique accomplishment in the Spanish Eclectic style by famed Seattle developer Frederick William Anhalt. One tenant expresses that since she was a young girl, she wanted to live in an Anhalt—and originals are becoming rarer every year, with renovations that follow the letter but not the spirit of historic preservation. 

The sale of La Quinta Apartments threatens the special community we share. This bubble of relatively affordable housing is part of what keeps Capitol Hill a vibrant and diverse community, with special regard for its history as a center of Seattle’s queer life and culture. The history our courtyard’s century-old cedar has presided over could soon come to a close with expensive renovations, rent hikes and displacement. 

Communication from management to tenants about the sale has been somewhat opaque. Some tenants did not know about the sale until very recently, and organizing therefore only began recently. However, there is broad interest in broaching the subject of the sale with management, with the goal of either a) receiving an extension to the sale date with the goal of exploring an offer, or b) receiving the opportunity to match the sale price. Already, the tenants undersigned have contacted the city council, Seattle Tenants Union, Historic Seattle, and Caliber Home Loan with the goal of accelerating access to financing and their understanding of how they might together purchase the building and convert it to cooperative housing—a model which is used in several nearby buildings with great success. Recognizing the constraints within which La Quinta management must currently operate, we are happy to move as expeditiously as possible to secure financing while maintaining all due diligence. Realistically, this means that to keep tenants in place we need more time, in the form of an extension or an opportunity to put together a matching offer.  

Whether or not we are granted an extension or opportunity to match the sale price, we will be in close communication with the management of La Quinta Apartments going forward about this matter that deeply impacts our livelihoods and lives. Should a sale to tenants participating in a cooperative not be immediately possible, we are still interested in pursuing this course with the buyer of the property. And no matter what, we will advocate with any future ownership for our legitimate interest as tenants. Our hope is that regardless of the path forward we can continue to live at La Quinta and enjoy its welcoming courtyard, safekeep its architectural and cultural heritage, and participate in its future for years to come.

Sincerely, 

Tenants of La Quinta