The Rolls-Royce and the Ferrari parked in front of a real estate sales office in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood Wednesday night were the first indication that this was no normal "house party."

The line of blue-jacketed valets, the red carpet and rope line, the doorman with a list of registered guests, the wine bar, the gourmet hors d'oeuvres, the black-tie-wearing servers, the mini pop-up shop for custom-tailored men's suits—all of that was a pretty good signal, too.

A decidedly less stereotypical Seattle—sans the hiking and rain gear that usually defines us to the world—actually dressed up and turned out to mingle and tour a mock floor plan for a luxury condominium development called Nexus.