A design rendering of a Habitat for Humanity affordable condo building

Thanks to legislators in Olympia, Seattle’s push for a new growth plan, and the completion of the neighborhood’s $455.3 million project to widen 520 and lid the busy freeway, Montlake could be home to the area’s next major affordable housing project in a development that could be focused on below-market rate condos or townhomes or other affordable options that emphasize ownership.

The approximately one-acre of land where the Montlake Market and a 76 gas station once stood that has been used as a parking and staging area during the years of the 520 construction project is now state surplus property and must be sold at fair market value.

Changes in policy are being lined up to give affordable housing developers first dibs.

“Now that all major Montlake Project elements are open to the public, state lawmakers are working to make the property available for affordable homeownership,” the Washington State Department of Transportation said in a recent update on the Montlake Lid project. “We will know more details about the process and schedule following the end of the legislative session in March 2026.”

“We will continue to keep you updated once we have more information,” WSDOT promises.

CHS reported here as bus stops were finally activated last spring atop the neighborhood’s new lid and its rolling lawns and walking and riding paths after years of construction. 520’s expansion has since moved on to the west where the seven-year, $1.5 billion 520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid construction project is underway.

The Montlake Lid construction staging area where the market and gas station once stood was a flashpoint for community concerns as WSDOT acquired area land for the massive project.

State Rep. Nicole Macri pushed at the time to help keep the market open as a neighborhood resource until it would need to be demolished for construction to begin. Before being acquired by the state, the property had been owned by Bellevue developer Kemper Freeman, Jr.’s niece, according to King County records. Its acquisition was part of a handful of WSDOT property purchases including neighborhood homes.

Now the surplus property next to the busy 520 and Montlake Blvd E corridors is being lined up for development as affordable housing.

The widened 520 and the new lid could get new neighbors — the plot of land is in the upper left of the photo (Image: Washington State Department of Transportation)

Under typical WSDOT processes, “any remaining unused property” would go through the state’s “Disposal of Surplus Property process” and would be sold for fair market value as a public benefit with the zoning of the property remaining unchanged.

In 2023, legislation changed the scope of public benefit to include, as area Sen. Jamie Pedersen put it when he celebrated the bill’s passage that spring, “the use of surplus public property to create affordable housing, including rental and homeownership, targeting low-income households.”

Meanwhile, the state’s Middle Housing Bill and Seattle’s process to overhaul its 20-year growth plan is also lining up to make a major affordable housing project at the site possible.

This area of Montlake is designated a new Neighborhood Center allowing “residential and mixed-use buildings up to six stories in the core and four and five-story residential buildings toward the edges” depending on proximity to resources including bus stops and light rail stops.

The property is a half-mile from University of Washington Station.

The elements are lined up for the old Hop In market land to be the site of new housing.

Other recent area projects developed under surplus land provisions include The Rise on First Hill, a joint project from Plymouth Housing and Bellwether Housing built on surplus Sound Transit land at Madison and Boylston left from the scuttled plan for a light rail stop in the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, there have been increased legislative efforts to make it more affordable to own homes. In 2023, Habitat for Humanity opened its first affordable condo building on Capitol Hill on 11th Ave E between Harrison and Republican. A second, 17-unit building is planned for 14th Ave.

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