Two new assisted living projects planned for Capitol Hill’s neighboring neighborhoods will go in front of the design review board Wednesday night.
Both are part of a development trend addressing the market demand for more senior housing in Seattle. CHS previously wrote about how senior citizens, many of whom have lived in the area for a long time, are choosing to stay around Capitol Hill and Central Seattle, either in their homes, or in some of the new and established facilities which cater to older folks. The U.S. Census estimates that 21% of residents in the 98112 ZIP code are 60 or older.
Last spring, CHS wrote about one of the projects — a new neighbor planned for the Frye Art Museum weighing it at 23 stories on Terry Ave and developed by Columbia Pacific Advisors on property owned by the Archdiocese of Seattle. The other is a development just underway in Eastlake from Aegis Living. The company opened a seven-story, 104-unit facility complete with a “Memory Care Deck” designed to help residents feel at home with a “façade of an old-fashioned neighborhood” at 22nd and E Madison in 2014.
All looks good, but in the bigger view, looks like Wells Fargo Bank put a gun to Full Life’s head, an organization that “helps adults of all ages with chronic illnesses, and physical or developmental disabilities”, by going after their most lucrative property on CH. Gaffney House is a historic facility that cared for my mother in her final years with the greatest compassion. I’m sure from Full Life’s perspective, it’s was a decision of choosing the lesser of evils, but is this how what we want to treat our citizens?
We are not young forever. Please envision a CH for all…
In memory of my mom.