Great discussion, and thanks for the dig, Maria. I own a boat and shopped at Jacobsen's many times last year. They sell more than boats and do wonderful repair work (anybody notice the boatyard filled with *not* new boats?) Jacobsen's and Fisheries Supply near Gasworks Park are well loved (and well supported) by boaters in the community. It's these kind of *useful* businesses that I am sad to see leave the community. Ballard is moving from a community with resources to a community with expensive boutique shops, which is the sad part to me. There is not one good answer, and in the best case scenario, Ballard will be able to retain a bit of both elements and remain somewhat sustainable as a community.

Maria,
You are WRONG. There is such a thing as estate taxes. it is entirely different from capital gains tax. This is money that HAS been taxed. Trust me on this, we just settled my dad's estate.

There is no such thing as a death tax. Inheritance taxes simply collect tax on profit that has never been taxed, (unrealized capital gains). I don’t see that as unreasonable and since they also excuse the tax on a fairly large figure, (2 million currently for a single and 4 million for a couple) it really only affects the wealthy.

these guys are jerks ! i got my boat for 12k less from another dealer! BOO JACOBSENS!

I'd be happy if they got rid of death taxes. But they government wants all our money to teach under privileged gang bangers how to play the lute, and most of the folks around here support that.

Yes Billy and its ironic that the same old Ballardites who whine that their kids and grand kids can no longer afford to live in Ballard, are happily selling the houses they bought for $35,000 in the 70s for $600,000 today. Each issue is all abotu personal perspective.

I agree with you V but the same people who scream about condos and evil corporations are the same lefties who fought to stop Bush ending death taxes. Oh the irony!

There are a number of ways estates can be protected from a lot (if not all) of the death taxes. You don't think rich people would have allowed these laws to go into affect if their weren't loopholes to help them do you. I don't know this families particular situation and it's obviously too late but hopefully this situation turns on a few light bulbs.

Old school property owners: Please protect your estates and make sure your family is going to be able to keep those things you've worked so hard for. Come to terms with the fact that you are going to die someday and start working with an estate planner to get your assets transfered into trusts or create corporations, anything to take it out of a sole ownership situation. These can be very easily structured so you have complete and full control of all assets until the moment you die.

Children of property owners: You are often just as guilty of burring your head in the sand when it comes to these types of situations. If your family doesn't do the proper estate planning you'll be faced with a huge tax bill one day and be forced to sell. You can assure your folks that they will retain full control of the assets until they die if that is what they are worried about. Ask around and find a talk to some estate planners.

Proper estate planning can work very well but it can take years (not years of work, years of duration) to get set up and will require some periodic maintenance so get started now.

It’s always hard and sad when a generation dies away and things change but that is how the world works. The places we live evolve. There used to be single family homes and small businesses on 5th Avenue and on Wall Street in New York. There also used to be family homes and small businesses on every street in downtown Seattle. There used to be farms when Boeing Plant 2 stands. There used to be farms in Brooklyn and on Manhattan Island. If legislators had stepped in to preserve every way of life that has disappeared where would we be?

The economy is always at the base of all change in places. The old Ballardites have to face the reality that the old Ballard economy is over. It no longer works in a large city. The new “Market as God’ economy will not last forever either. In fact I think it will have a very short run. We will see Ballard evolve into a place that works for those who live here.

I recently looked at a picture book celebrating the old Frederick and Nelson. I loved Frederick’s and I miss it. It’s ancient history now. It served a life that no longer exists. Most noticeable to me was the glaring generic whiteness of the workers and shoppers at Frederick’s. There was a picture of the Franklin high school choir. When I worked at Frederick’s in the 70s there were only four black employees and two Asian. We made good money there but that was due to unions which was a hard fight with owners and management. Nostalgia is very myopic.

V; long, but true. I do know the family, and really, they have no choice.

Bob Jacobsen was himself a second generation Ballardite. He started a business in grade school, running a paper stand on Ballard Avenue. He eventually bought property on Leary where the original boat store was. In the 1950s he moved into the current location.

This is a sad loss for Ballard. Trust me, the family really doesn't want to leave. This is a difficult time for the family; let's not speculate.

The departure of Jacobsen's Marine and Archie McPhee and the inevitable development of the property into monolithic condos, is a direct result of our high estate taxes.

I am not a member of the family that owns the property, but I familiar with the situation.

In the next twenty years, of family patriarchs will be passing away in Seattle. These were the hard working, early inhabitants of our city. Scandinavian, Italian, German, Irish, Asian---people with hopes from around the world, who were seeking a new life in Seattle.

Many bought commercial property, where they operated their small businesses, often in dumpy, industrial neighborhoods, 30, 40, 50 years ago for prices in the $25,000 to $100,000 range. They sweated blood to pay the mortgage for 30 years. Now it is owned free and clear. But most of them are destined to lose those family properties to pay death taxes.

As these hard working old timers reach the end of their life span and die, those properties may now be valued at $5, $10, perhaps $20 million dollars. The grieving family members left behind will have no choice but to sell to pay combined federal and state estate taxes as high as 54% (thanks to the Washington State Legislature, we have the highest state estate taxes in the nation).

Valuation is not cash. Those who say estate taxes only affect the very rich do not understand the facts. The consequences of estate taxes and the resulting forced sales are profound.

The only people able to pay the high prices for property sold off to pay taxes and endure the costly and confusing process to develop, are corporate owners and developers.

As these deaths force the sale of the old properties to the highest bidder, it will be the biggest transfer of ownership from individuals and families to large corporations in history, for Seattle and for America.

First there is the federal and state government virtually confiscating a family’s lifelong property holding at death, and then, transferring that property to powerful property developers.

Once the property is sold to the highest bidder, the City of Seattle comes into play, with complex, costly and at times idiotic demands for current code requirements and payoffs in the form of required upgrades to the city property for permission to build or change of use for the new owners.

Development means big, tall buildings, often of dubious design value, that we all have to look at the rest of our lives, with commercial on the ground floor (whose rents will be related to the high cost of dirt and the astonishingly costly current building code requirements), condos high above and deep cellars for cars.

These first floor commercial spaces will be so expensive they will generally be leased to national firms with deep pockets for shops such as Haagen Dazs and Starbucks. Business whose actual product costs less than 10% of the selling price and with volume sales from costly advertising and product placement. That leaves a lot of room to pay the huge new overhead costs. Independent, small businesses can't pay the high rents.

Seattle City Government’s plan for urban density and means increased property tax revenue from the higher property valuations.

Like water blasting from a fire hose, the cash pours into the city treasury with permit fees, from required use of city union crews at huge expense (e. g. for attaching the new pipe for the required sprinkler system to the city water line) and an incredible demand list to pay for sidewalks, landscaping and roadway improvements of city property---all lowering expenses to the city. When it is finished, the new property tax assessment, now based on the costly improvements, leaps into the stratosphere.

These higher property taxes are passed on and paid by the commercial tenants and the individual condo owners.

And with every sale, King County takes as 2% excise tax of the gross property sale cost of every property sold.

The point is there are consequences. The cumulative costs that our elected officials have set into motion are enormous and the affects are profound, and
the residents will end up paying the price and suffering the costs.

It all reminds me of the Pentagon statement from the 1970s, during the Vietnam War, “we had to destroy the village to save it.”

This situation is supported by those who benefit---a great anthill of opportunists...

It benefits the corporate fat cat developers who have the skill and resources to deal with the demands of the City---and it protects them from competition from individuals who are outbid and outclassed at every step.

It benefits real estate agents who profit on every new transaction, the unionized workers who are paid way over market and must be used to meet city demands, and the contractors who simply add their margin to every new costly requirement and the bankers whose fee and interest income on their loans increase with the higher costs.

It benefits well paid city employees (with better medical and dental insurance than you will ever have­-and they can’t ever be fired) administering the costly, contradictory system of building requirements and permissions, the army of consultants­-often ex-government employees who must be hired at great cost to move a project through the jungle of red tape.

It benefits the land use attorneys who must be engaged to decipher the City’s own regulations (a full time employment act if there ever was one). It really benefits the smug, sanctimonious politicians who deliver sound bites for the evening news about improving our lives, “our quality of life,” and making Seattle into a “world class city,” whatever that means. They know nothing.

This motley crew does not create value, add to productivity or true quality of life. It forces the cost of everything higher for the benefit of a tiny group. They suck the life-blood from our city through taxes, excessive costs, stupid regulations and delays.

The German philosopher Schiller said it best: against stupidity, even the gods despair.

The Holy Grail for Seattle Government--“The Master Plan,” that calls for urban density, sounds like a good idea at first glance. But the way it is being implemented and the consequences for the future are a disaster.

It will ultimately crush the hopes and dreams of individuals who are not rich and connected from operating and owning small shops. It will eventually eliminate the diversity of goods and services that independent business offers.

My Magic 8 Ball predicts the community that will evolve will disappoint most people and by then, it will be too late to change. Like David Byrne of Talking Heads, you may ask yourself one day, what am I doing here?

You think the corporate, homogenized shopping malls from coast to coast, are boring and repellent? Welcome to the Brave, New Seattle of the Future, where only the Big Boys can operate. Just wait until you see what things cost once these monopolies are firmly and quietly in place.

Our elected officials have no idea how hard it is for a small business and individuals to earn money, to survive, in the real world. No idea that some taxes, costs and regulations are so great that they simply will not allow a small, independent business to exist.

For our elected officials to have created such a sleazy situation, from virtual property confiscation at death with estate taxes to the property transfers to fat cats to impossible regulatory requirements, resulting in a coming dystopia for citizens, is unforgivable.

Nice.

Candice I am very sad to see Jacobsen's go. I have known the family many years. S*** happens.

My guess is that if the marine industry left Ballard I would still live exactly where I live and my life would go on as usual.

Oh... and they also do repairs. Anyone who's ever owned a boat knows there's always something that needs done to said boat.

Maria, if all the marine based businesses picked up and moved out of Ballard you'd not be left with much.

Maria... they sell a lot more than just boats there. My business buys a lot of marine accessories there. Thanks for being so supportive.

Oh, I get it Maria, you're saying that no one buys boats cause Wendi doesn't.

No Sage but someone does. Charm is great but it is also a business.

"Wendi how many boats did you buy last year?"

Maria does one have to buy boats to appreciate the marine community?

Josh my guess is apartments which, if their rents are like the two newest ones on 15th, will remain as empty as condos. A huge percentage of the for sale units in Ballard are being offered as rentals now and they are still going wanting.

"For those of us who enjoy the boating and fishing community in Ballard, it’s a shame to see solid businesses like Jacobsen’s go"

Wendi how many boats did you buy last year?

It will be a vacant lot for at least the next five years. Three if they can build high enough to have a view of the water.

Why yes, there is positive news...

There's another sushi joint opening in Ballard. Next door to the new condos.

Are there any positive news stories coming out of Ballard?

If the owners aren't willing to stay, what can you do?
Are there plans for the property, or is it going to sit there vacant until the economy is booming again?

This is sad. For those of us who enjoy the boating and fishing community in Ballard, it's a shame to see solid businesses like Jacobsen's go. If we lose the common businesses like this in return for higher property value/sales, what will be the commerce of our new community? Boutiques like on Ballard Ave? I hope not. What a bummer.

I guess Bob and Greg don't get along so well.

I assume Bob is looking to build another pile of crappy condos but why would you start a project like that right now.

Yet again, Old Ballard sells out!

I thought Old Ballard was full of honorable people who would never sell out their principles? Men and women of courage and moral fortitude against the yuppie invasion?

Guess I was wrong.