(Image: Environmental Works)
The first Central District development project planned to align with the city’s coming Mandatory Housing Affordability program will move to the second and final phase of the city’s design review process Wednesday night.
CHS first wrote about the Community House project at 22nd and Jackson in November 2016 but the development was expanded to add a second adjacent building the following spring and arrives now in front of the East Design Review Board with a plan for a combined 128 units of low income and affordable housing above a new Community House Mental Health Agency facility and street level retail:
The project from Community House, Ally Community Development, and the architects at Capitol Hill-based Environmental Works is being designed under the framework of an expected upzoning of the area to allow 75-foot buildings under the MHA program. Under MHA, the 75 units planned for the seven-story building in the project will be available to tenants making 60% or less of the area median income. The 53 units planned to rise above the new upgraded Community House facility in the six-story building will be used to house Community House clients.
Funding for the project could include $750,000 requested from the Washington State Housing Trust Fund, and more than $1.5 million from the City of Seattle’s Office of Housing.
In addition to helping to address the city’s housing needs, the project will give Community House the ability to expand its services. The new facility includes a day center, kitchen, medical consultation rooms, case management offices, and dining and multi-use space as well as expanded administrative offices and meeting space.
As for the neighborhood around the planned project, comments from spring showed the the Central Area Land Use Review Committee community group was “generally” supportive of the design with some suggested tweaks including more retail space, fewer overhangs, and a better pedestrian experience. Another commenter asked developers to consider finding a way to include the corner flower shop that will eventually be demolished to make way for the project.
The project is just part of a wave of redevelopment coming to 23rd and Jackson. Vulcan’s $30.9 million purchase of the Promenade 23 shopping center land to the north and south of Jackson and plans to create two buildings with some 566 units will also radically reshape this area of the Central District.
223 12th Ave E
Wednesday’s review double header includes possible sign-off on the design for a project that will trade a 1901-built home being used today as a triplex for a new four-story, 22-unit apartment building on 12th Ave E just a few blocks north of Cal Anderson.
The project from real estate investor William Severson and B9 architects focuses on a preferred scheme that is “contextual in its volume and street engagement; deferential in relation to neighboring buildings; and innovative in its entry experience, courtyard space, building modulation, a preferred scheme that is contextual in its volume and street engagement; deferential in relation to neighboring buildings; and innovative in its entry experience, courtyard space, building modulation, materiality, and negotiation of old and new within a rich architectural landscape., and negotiation of old and new within a rich architectural landscape.” Too long, didn’t read? 22 units of market rate housing. No parking. Welcome, neighbors.
The Community House development is exactly the kind of thing we need much more of in Seattle if we are to make a dent in homelessness. Not only does it have truly affordable housing for those who qualify, but also units for those with mental illness. My question is: Will there be an effort to house some of the many mentally ill who are wandering our streets, or will all the units be reserved for current clients of Community House?
As for 223-12th Ave E…..yet another building wedged into a too-small space, and which will make parking in the area even more difficult than it is. When will the City wake up and require at least some on-site parking in ALL new buildings?
P.S. The 223-12th home appears to be very well-maintained and in excellent condition. I think it’s a damn shame that older homes like this are being demolished, only to be replaced by an ugly, cheap box.
This is what’s happening, Bob. 12th Ave E is becoming a corridor of 3-4 floor pressboard boxes. I’m going to be heartbroken when the Tudor-style apartments on 13th and Mercer are torn down for more of these structures.