A Calhoun aPodment loft (Image: aPodment)

Calhoun Properties has reshaped many blocks of Capitol Hill and the Central District.

Now the Seattle developer that made aPodment a Kleenex-level brand has put its entire microhousing portfolio including at least nine holdings across Capitol Hill, First Hill, and the Central District on the market.

The Seattle Times reported here on the planned sale of 23 buildings and their 1,402 apartments including ten buildings enjoying soon to expire affordable housing tax breaks. “The buyer could seek to extend some of them, saving around $3.3 million over a decade, according to the marketing brochure, or allow them to expire and raise the rents in those apartments,” the Times reports.

The sale comes as Seattle voters will consider the creation of a new affordable housing authority in 2023 that could, in the future, be a player in bids to acquire housing portfolios like Calhoun is putting on the market.

Meanwhile, according to the Times, the Low Income Housing Institute is interested in acquiring some of the aPodment buildings to maintain as affordable housing. LIHI has already been busy with acquisitions in the area including earlier this year in the CD utilizing public funding to create and preserve affordable housing. Another example is LIHI’s purchase of this newly constructed E Howell market rate apartment building for use as affordable housing.

Eastlake-based Calhoun Properties was the first developer to bring microhousing to central Seattle. Some apartments are smaller than 100 square feet. But you’ll have your own bathroom, a refrigerator, and, sometimes, a closet. In 2014, the developer reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over accessibility requirements of the Fair Housing Act that required it to make changes to existing construction and ensure accessibility in its future designs.

Citing concerns around quality of life issues and the impact of the housing on surrounding neighborhoods, Seattle leaders moved to restrict microhousing in the city in the past decade, though new regulations passed in 2014 left openings for the developments in the city’s densest neighborhoods like Capitol Hill and the Central District. Concerns about the high cost per square foot and quality of living remain but the housing type remains popular with renters looking to keep monthly rent totals down, sign the shortest possible leases, and willing to sacrifice a little elbow room.

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