It would be interesting to know why the previous owner(s) of Western Plaza sold it to Legacy. However, whatever the reason, this is what happens when large management companies buy rental properties. They raise rents to recoup their investments. (Gee, who would've thought.)
So, let's extrapolate to another scenario.
Cities like Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia are passing increasingly restrictive and demanding statutes on landlords in the name of "tenants' rights." This may encourage (or force) landlords to sell their properties because it's now just not worth the effort and expense to keep up with the bureaucratic nannyism. This may especially affect mom-and-pop landlords who have only one single-family home rental property acquired as an investment towards retirement. So, the home is sold to a large management company that raises the rent and has the lawyers to fight city interference, and the pool of relatively affordable housing is decreased further.
Olympia recently passed a statute requiring landlords to register their rental properties, get a business license, and be subject to periodic health and code inspections. Arguments before the city council opposing the measure and which said that such a law would decrease the pool of rental properties or increase the rents of those remaining were simply ignored.
We'll see what happens.
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