In those cities there are a lot of older (1900-1950) multifamily housing stock with good bones.I second @Brandon Vukelich's advice to follow the lightrail - traffic on i-5 is only geting worse, and Seattle's long term vision is to eliminate most buses and cars from downtown and have most of the other transit options simply shuttle folks to and from the lightrail stops. 

Also keep in mind there are a lot of safe good areas of the city for instance along St Paul and Calvert that have close by but smaller hospitals Mercy and Union are the size of Bayview and they have free shuttle service for Hopkins employees to get to the much larger main hospital. 

All the big tech cos have shuttles with working desks, but commute time still matters.These are all independent from a Real-Estate/rent bubble.

And a similar thing when jobs were lost in the Space Shuttle program.

Land, permits, infrastructure, materials, furnishings, utilities, project management, property management, furnishings, sidewalks, pool maintenance, insurance for your free shuttle, etc?