Affordable Housing Planned for Spring District

As reported in the Puget Sound Business Journal, Sound Transit recently announced that they had entered into negotiations with three developers to build a transit oriented development at the Sound Transit operations and maintenance facility on 120th Avenue NE in Bellevue, adjacent to the Spring District. Essex Property Trust will build ~220 market rate apartments, Touchstone will build 400,000 square feet of office, and Bridge Housing will act as master developer and build 280 units for residents making 30%-80% of area median income.  GGLO will be the master planner & landscape architect, as well as the architect on the multifamily and mixed use buildings.

The project represents 1.11M total square feet of built space, spread over 6 buildings on 6.88 acres. There will also be retail and amenities including a park.  The $500M+ capital stack includes funds from the Amazon Housing Equity Fund.  King County and A Regional Coalition for Housing (“ARCH”) also contributed $14M, and the City of Bellevue and Sound Transit each contributed one acre of land.  Sound Transit will hold a ground lease once the buildings are completed. The entire development will take 10 years to complete.  The East Link light rail station will open in 2023.