Bart Evans got to Bluwater Bistro on a Monday morning in early May to find chain link fencing and a excavator parked across his front doors. The two public lots his restaurant depends on, the ones just south of the building and next to Leschi South Marina, had been fenced off overnight with no warning. It was the week before Mother's Day, the single busiest stretch of the year for a waterfront restaurant. Evans later told reporters his revenue dropped as much as 75 to 80 percent in the days that followed. Leschi Market, the grocery across the street that has served the neighborhood since 1948, lost the same parking and had to cut staff hours.
If you own a home near that stretch of Lakeside Avenue South and you're thinking about listing this fall, the spring disruption matters to you. Not because it's still happening. Because the way it ended is the reason this fall's construction phase is a different, more disclosable, more defensible situation than the one that made local news in May.
What Actually Went Wrong in May
The project is the Leschi South Marina Wave Attenuator and Facility Improvements, a $7.9 million effort by Seattle Parks and Recreation to replace the marina's aging creosote-treated pier and pilings with a new public dock, breakwater, and boat sewage pump-out station. Nobody in the neighborhood objected to the project itself. The problem was how it started.
Harkness Construction, the contractor hired for the upland utility phase, was supposed to give affected businesses at least 10 days notice and hold coordination meetings before breaking ground. Leschi Market owner Yousef Shulman, a fourth-generation owner of the business, said that notice never came. Business owners arrived to find the lots already fenced.
"Like many small neighborhood businesses, we depend on reliable customer access to survive."
That's Shulman, describing why the sudden closure was more than an inconvenience. The Leschi Market's own account of the episode says the city received over 900 emails from neighbors and customers within days. Seattle City Council President Joy Hollingsworth got involved directly, and the city agreed to shrink the contractor's footprint, reopen most of the parking before Mother's Day weekend, and pause construction entirely until August.
That pause, and the revised schedule that followed it, is the part that matters if you're selling a home nearby this fall.
What's Different About the September Phase
Harkness Construction mobilized again on September 14, 2026, to finish the upland utility work: sewer, water, and electrical lines needed for the new pump-out station. A second contractor, Manson Construction, is expected on site in the next couple of weeks to clear underwater debris too large for the earlier dive team to remove. Off-site fabrication of the new floats, piles, and gangways is already underway, and the breakwater and moorage construction itself is expected to begin later this fall.
The city's public project page, updated about a month ago, now includes a dated parking graphic and a stated end window: early November 2026, weather permitting. The noisiest work, saw cutting and jackhammering, has been scheduled for before 10 p.m. so that parking and deliveries stay open during Leschi Market's business hours. Daytime work is limited to required curb ramp construction.
Here's the side by side that matters if you're writing listing copy or fielding a buyer's question in a showing.
| May 2026 mobilization | September 2026 mobilization | |
|---|---|---|
| Advance notice | Contractor arrived with no notice to businesses | City published a dated project page and parking graphic before work began |
| Parking impact | About 140 spaces fenced off overnight | About 3 tenant stalls and 3 curb spaces closed, with roughly 200 spots still available across the site |
| Work hours | Daytime, during business hours | Loudest work shifted to before 10 p.m. |
| End date | Not communicated | Early November 2026, weather permitting |
| Public response | Over 900 emails and a City Council intervention | None needed so far |
That table is the difference between a construction disclosure that reads like a warning and one that reads like a schedule.
Why the Disclosure Language Actually Matters
Washington sellers of improved residential property generally have to complete a seller disclosure statement under RCW 64.06.020, delivered within five business days of mutual acceptance, with buyers getting a window of a few business days after delivery to review it or walk. Nearby construction that could affect noise, access, or property use during the listing period falls squarely into the kind of known condition a seller should be prepared to address, whether or not the disclosure form has a specific line item for it.
The instinct for a lot of sellers is to say as little as possible and hope the buyer doesn't ask. That instinct works against you here. A buyer's agent who pulls up the same public project page you could have linked in your listing remarks is going to find the May headlines regardless. The only question is whether they find them because you told them the full story, including the part where the city corrected course, or because they found it on their own and started wondering what else you left out.
The stronger move is to say exactly what's happening: the contractor, the mobilization date, the parking graphic, the projected end date, and the fact that this phase already looks different from the one that made the news in May. That's not spin. It's the same information the city itself has published, organized in a way that answers the question before the buyer has to ask it.
The Market You're Actually Pricing Into
Seattle entered September 2026 with the highest resale inventory it has seen since January 2012, more than four months of supply citywide, a level that puts the broader market in buyer's territory for the first time in over a decade. That's the headline a lot of buyers are walking in with, and it gives them leverage they didn't have a year or two ago.
But citywide inventory numbers hide a lot of variation by price band. The $750,000 to $1.5 million range, which covers most of Leschi's housing stock, has stayed one of the tightest bands in the city even as the overall market has loosened. Leschi listings have continued to go pending in around three weeks on average, faster than the Seattle-wide median. That's the tension a seller near the marina needs to hold at once: buyers citywide have more to choose from and more patience than they did last year, but a well-positioned Leschi home is still competing in a fast-moving sub-market where hesitation costs you.
That combination changes the math on how to handle the construction. In a slower price band, a construction disclosure might be reason enough to discount the price and move on. In a band that's still selling in three weeks, the better strategy is precision: tell the buyer exactly what the schedule is, exactly when it ends, and let the home compete on its own terms rather than pricing in a vague discount for an uncertainty you could have resolved with one paragraph of listing copy.
Putting It Into the Listing
A few things worth doing before your first showing. Pull the current parking graphic from the city's project page and keep a copy on hand, not just a link. Schedule showings with the night work calendar in mind once dates are announced, since the loudest work is supposed to happen after most showings would end anyway. If your home is close enough that the fencing or equipment will be visible in listing photos, say so in the remarks rather than cropping around it. And if a buyer's inspector or agent asks about the marina project, hand them the same specifics in this post: contractor names, mobilization dates, the projected November close-out, and the fact that the city adjusted its plan in May after hearing from neighbors and businesses.
None of that erases the disruption. It does turn "there's construction nearby" into a dated, bounded, already-tested fact instead of an open question a buyer has to research on their own.
A Couple of Questions Worth Answering Directly
Do I have to mention ongoing public construction on my Form 17 even if it's not on the checklist? Washington's disclosure law is built around what the seller actually knows that could affect the property's value or use. A documented, city-run construction project within view or earshot of your home is the kind of fact most agents would tell you to volunteer rather than wait to be asked about.
Could the marina work affect my appraisal? Appraisers are generally looking at comparable sales and condition, not ongoing public infrastructure work with a published end date. The bigger risk isn't the appraisal, it's a buyer's financing timeline getting nervous over an open-ended construction question. A dated schedule addresses that directly.
If you're weighing whether this is the right fall to list a home near the water in Leschi, the construction schedule is one more variable worth talking through before you set a price or a showing calendar. Exact Home Team has been tracking this project since the spring and can walk you through the disclosure language, the timing, and what a construction-adjacent listing actually needs to say to compete in this market. Reach out through our seller resources page when you're ready to talk specifics.
