The Africatown Community Land Trust announced Wednesday it has acquired the former Keiro Rehabilitation and Care Center with plans to transition the property into a “culturally responsive” shelter at 16th and Yesler in the Central District.
The community development group said it is paying $13.84 million for the property with funding sources for the acquisition including the City of Seattle and the State of Washington.
“We are excited by this opportunity to bring a new model to reduce the overrepresentation of our community members in the houselessness crisis and the long term goal to address the need for affordable housing in the Central District and Seattle,” K. Wyking Garrett, president and CEO of Africatown Community Land Trust said in a statement.
“We look forward to ongoing engagement with many community stakeholders to help achieve these goals.”
CHS reported here on the plans for Community House, a new 24×7, 125 bed non-congregate shelter providing housing and services on the Central District property.
CHS reported here in the summer of 2020 on Africatown’s efforts to halt a “predatory” development of the property. Bellevue-based developer, Shelter Holdings had been lined up to purchase the property for redevelopment for $11 million, the Africatown land trust said in its statement.
Mary’s Place had plans to occupy the space as a shelter on a two-year lease but stepped aside for the Africatown project.
The city and Africatown have announced an open house at the facility October 14th to learn more about the shelter and its services.
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So, if I read this correctly the city and the state financed the purchase of this property for $13.64 million when Shelter Holdings, the predatory developer, had secured the right to purchase the property for $11 million. Did the city and state pay a premium for the property?
They also accused Mary’s Place of being predatory despite that they have a great reputation, far better than Africantown’s. The also made it clear the reason they objected to Mary’s Place running the shelter was because those in charge were white. The fact that this was openly stated by the CEO of Africatown and that the city and county decided to put them in charge of this project despite the open bigotry is shameful. This project is not going to end well and the writing was on the wall in huge letters that this would be the case.
Does Africatown have an actual track record of successfully running any Social service program with measurable results? I’m aware of the various programs they’ve run over the years and most of them have taken taxpayer money and seem to have done very little with it. I know other groups they’ve run such as Black Dot have speakers on occasion. But is there concrete evidence that the enormous amount of funds they’ve been given over the last 15 years has improved the quality of life of citizens (other than those who run the organizations)?
This is quite the watered down version of the facts about what really happened here. I guess we all fall in line, comply, and don’t question anything. Sad world we are living in.
I’m sure readers would welcome any insights and additional information you might offer – it does seem there is more to this story than reported here.
Do your own research!
Shirley K is the holder of the secret info, and the only person capable of seeing the truth. A rebel, a free thinker, a person who seeks the finest Youtube videos, reads all of the top articles from her Facebook feed, and questions everything except for the information in those Youtube videos and the top articles from her Facebook feed that feel factual.
Amazon-backed Mary’s Place vacates Seattle shelter after Black-empowerment group demands property – Puget Sound Business Journal (bizjournals.com)
Shirley,
Thanks for the link. I had forgotten the details surrounding this property and appreciate your effort to refresh my memory. Perhaps Privilege (above) can read the link and let us know what they think.
Awesome! More affordable housing. Don’t stop – another 10,000 units to go