Good morning. Issue four of the Kirkland Dispatch: five minutes on what moved in Kirkland this week, one item for your own neighborhood, the market in three numbers, and one practical thing for the house.
Kirkland this week
Drop, cover and hold on this morning at 10:15. Today is the Great ShakeOut, the statewide earthquake drill. Get on hands and knees, cover your head, get under a sturdy table if one is close, and hold on; the city notes doorways are not a safe place to shelter. City of Kirkland
October 6: the church lease passed; the station name waits. Council allowed the newly acquired former church in Kingsgate to be leased for a community purpose while the city settles a long-term plan. Naming the NE 85th Street station area now sits on the November 4 calendar, beside the Kraken ground-lease amendment. Council recap · Council calendar, revised 10/9
Tuesday, October 20: utility rates, then the budget. The 5:30 PM study session covers traffic signals, the Green Loop and a middle-housing briefing. The 7:30 PM meeting adopts utility rates and takes up a draft state legislative agenda; the faith-owned lands code moved to the consent list. Next: a budget work session Thursday, October 29, and on November 4 the first public hearing on the 2027–28 budget and the preliminary 2027 property tax levy. Council calendar
Northbound I-405 closes in Bellevue this weekend. All lanes between SE 8th Street and NE 4th Street close from 11 PM Friday, October 16, to 4 AM Monday, October 19, with the SE 8th on-ramp and the Exit 13 off-ramp closed. Coming home from Renton or I-90, plan the signed detour. WSDOT
Green Kirkland Week runs October 17 to 25. Volunteer stewardship events at parks across the city: planting, weeding and mulching to open the planting season. Sign-ups are on the Green Kirkland event calendar. City bulletin · Green Kirkland
Your neighborhood
Central Houghton. King County's October 7 update: culvert repair and a retaining wall are under way, and the Cross Kirkland Corridor stays closed between NE 52nd Street and 108th Avenue NE on the three-month schedule from September 8. For a walk nearby, Carillon Woods, 5429 106th Avenue NE, is 8.7 acres with a paved interpretive trail; its springs supplied water to Yarrow Point from 1888. King County · Carillon Woods
Sold near you: 16 homes closed within 0.8 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.62M (range $253K to $7.30M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 20 days.
Everest. The NE 85th Street station-area name was not settled on October 6; the naming item is now on council's November 4 calendar. Council calendar
Sold near you: 28 homes closed within 0.8 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.32M (range $253K to $4.29M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 9 days.
Evergreen Hill. Council on October 6 allowed the former church at 13220 NE 132nd Street to be leased for a community purpose while the city works out the site's long-term plan, a community center among the options on the project page. Council recap · Project page
Sold near you: 16 homes closed within 0.8 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $980K (range $250K to $1.27M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 13 days.
Finn Hill. The Green Loop, the planned trail and open-space corridor through Finn Hill and Juanita, gets its council update at the Tuesday, October 20 study session at 5:30 PM. The two Holmes Point Overlay items, trees and middle housing, are listed the same night. Council calendar · Green Loop
Sold near you: 14 homes closed within 0.8 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $890K (range $326K to $1.83M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 31 days.
Highlands. The city's Arbor Day tree planting is today, Thursday, October 15, at 1 PM at Fire Station 21, 9816 Forbes Creek Drive, with the mayor's proclamation read on site. City bulletin
Sold near you: 17 homes closed within 0.8 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.63M (range $675K to $4.29M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 22 days.
Juanita. The 2026 overlay program has crews on NE 134th, 136th and 137th Streets between 90th and 100th Avenues NE, with intermittent disruption 7 AM to 6 PM and permanent markings due this month. Saturday morning, eastbound NE Juanita Drive closes 7 to 11:30 AM for the half marathon. City traffic alerts · Half marathon alert
Sold near you: 18 homes closed within 0.8 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $965K (range $275K to $2.80M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 8 days.
Lakeview. Yarrow Bay Wetlands, 9830 NE Points Drive, is 73.3 acres of wetland with an interpretive walk; trailheads sit at NE Points Drive and 101st Way NE, and off Lake Washington Boulevard NE about 500 feet north of NE 38th Place. Street parking is limited. City of Kirkland
Sold near you: 13 homes closed within 0.8 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.27M (range $253K to $7.30M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 29 days.
Market. Lake Avenue West Street End Park, 297 Lake Avenue West, is a 0.3-acre lake access with a hand-carried launch for kayaks and paddleboards, open dawn to dusk, street parking only. City of Kirkland
Sold near you: 20 homes closed within 0.8 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.93M (range $1.18M to $4.29M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 20 days.
Moss Bay. The city's live parking map shows open spaces, updated by the minute, in the downtown and waterfront lots, Lakeshore and Lake and Central among them, at kirklandwa.gov/parking. Saturday, southbound Lakeshore Plaza closes 8 to 10 AM for the half marathon. City bulletin · Half marathon alert
Sold near you: 24 homes closed within 0.8 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.57M (range $470K to $3.59M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 9 days.
Norkirk. Reservoir Park, 1501 3rd Street, is a 0.6-acre neighborhood park with a playground, an open lawn with benches, picnic tables and a bike rack, open dawn to dusk. City of Kirkland
Sold near you: 25 homes closed within 0.8 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.75M (range $470K to $4.29M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 20 days.
North Rose Hill. NE 112th Street at 132nd Avenue NE stays closed, local access only, for sewer construction at the city's Trend Lift Station. City traffic alerts
Sold near you: 20 homes closed within 0.8 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.39M (range $260K to $3.60M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 28 days.
South Rose Hill / Bridle Trails. South Rose Hill Park, 12730 NE 72nd Street, is 2.2 acres with a fenced playground, a basketball court and trails; enter from the lot at the end of NE 72nd, from NE 70th Street or from the south end of 128th Avenue NE. Restrooms typically close after October. City of Kirkland
Sold near you: 20 homes closed within 0.8 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.56M (range $825K to $3.49M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 19 days.
Totem Lake. The road rebuild around the hospital campus continues: NE 128th Street between 120th and 124th Avenues NE is open one direction at a time, and the city's October 8 update says the open direction is about to flip from westbound to eastbound, so follow the posted signs. Each phase runs up to two weeks, with work into the fall. City project page
Sold near you: 14 homes closed within 0.8 mile of the neighborhood center in the last 45 days, median $1.03M (range $235K to $1.60M); the fastest went from listing to closing in 24 days.
The market in 60 seconds
Across Kirkland ZIPs 98033 and 98034, the median home sold for $1.25M over the last 30 days (119 closings). The median home took 58 days from listing to closing, and there are 4.0 months of inventory on the market.
That is a step toward sellers from last week's 4.8 months: active listings dropped from 555 to 475 while closings ticked up from 115 to 119. Single-family homes sit at 3.4 months. Still balanced territory: under three months favors sellers, above six favors buyers. For a buyer, 5% of homes closed above asking, so most deals still leave room to negotiate.
One useful thing: Before the first windstorm
Report a power outage to Puget Sound Energy at 1-888-225-5773, pse.com/outage or the PSE app, not 911; a downed line is the 911 call. Before a storm: flashlights and batteries where you can find them in the dark, a thermometer in the fridge and freezer, working carbon monoxide detectors, and the car at half a tank or more. During an outage, keep the fridge and freezer closed, and never run a generator, camp stove or charcoal grill indoors or in the garage. A tree down on the street: Public Works, 425-587-3900. City of Kirkland: Power Outage · PSE outage map
That's the week. Reply with anything you want tracked in Kirkland. Next Thursday: what council decided on October 20, from utility rates to the legislative agenda, and where the 2027–28 budget stands before its first public hearing.
Follow the Kirkland Dispatch on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kirkland-dispatch/
Know a neighbor who would read this? Forward it. They can subscribe at kirklanddispatch.com.
Live in Kirkland, work in Bellevue? The Bellevue Dispatch is the same five minutes for Bellevue: https://www.bellevuedispatch.com/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cross-kirkland
The Kirkland Dispatch is a RexMont Real Estate publication. Adriano Tori, Designated Broker. Reply to this email and a person reads it.