KENT, Wash. -- Group Health has stored its records in a leased building in Kent for 16 years. Next month it will move that operation up the hill to SeaTac.
One big reason: SeaTac is more likely to stay dry.
Some valley businesses, like Group Health, are relocating to higher ground, or contemplating it. Some businesses that were considering moving into that area from elsewhere are backing off.
On the residential side, some agents who work in the valley say flood fears are driving sales and prices down. Marti Reeder, a John L. Scott agent in Kent, says she's advising all prospective sellers with homes on the valley floor not to bother listing them until March.
Right now just looking at a puddle seems to spook most buyers, she says: "It's at a virtual standstill."
Beleaguered property owners and city officials hope an announcement by the Army Corps of Engineers earlier this month will provide some relief. The corps said temporary repairs at Howard Hanson Dam, upstream on the Green River, had reduced the risk of flooding in the valley this winter from 1-in-3 to 1-in-25.
That news seems to have calmed the commercial real-estate market some, says Ben Wolters, Kent's economic-development director.
But the flood threat may persist for years until permanent dam repairs are completed. And the economy already is giving fits to many valley businesses and residents.
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