Queen Anne High School – mid-rise condominium conversion on Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill.

Queen Anne High School is an historic, iconic building that had been converted from its original use as a high school to apartments in 1986. In 2006, local developer Legacy Partners converted it from apartments to condominiums, and they hired the Matrix team to manage the sales and marketing.

This 137-home project posed an interesting opportunity and challenge. A true Seattle icon, Queen Anne High School is at the crown of Queen Anne Hill, visible from many Seattle neighborhoods including from I-5 just north of downtown. If we had the opportunity to convert this directly from the original high school, we could have worked with the floorplans to maximize saleability. Since this was already converted, we worked with the floorplans as they existed, quirky as they were. Some homes had striking original features like chalkboards and oversized arched windows.

Our team consulted on the initial legal documents and tenant notices, phasing and pricing. We hired and managed the sales team and sales process, including weekly meetings with the team and developer.

Marketing services were soup to nuts, including recommending and hiring the graphic design firm and working with them on the branding package including logo, website, floorplans, site map, print collateral, signage, sales office layout and displays and advertising. We drafted and managed the marketing budget and calendar, implementing every aspect of the marketing plan from advertising placement to direct mail to broker outreach and buyer events.

We started very successfully and came very close to selling out before the economic downturn of 2008, but in the end the developer’s budget ran out and they auctioned the final handful of homes.