SunBreak: First private Yesler Terrace development moving forward at 12th/Yesler

Just a couple months after the City Council passed legislation that paves the way for a large-scale redevelopment of Yesler Terrace, a Canadian corporation is purchasing SHA land with plans to build workforce housing at 12th and Yesler.

The SunBreak has the details:

… A half-acre of former SHA property (official sale price: $2.88 million) at 12th Avenue and East Yesler Way is on the way to private hands–private Canadian hands, in fact, since the new owners are Gracorp Capital Advisors Ltd. of Calgary, Canada. They’re partnering locally with Spectrum Development Solutions, who have been very busy around Seattle providing housing for college students. Projects include a number of University of Washington sites, and The Douglas at Seattle University.

Gracorp says the 116,000-square-foot project will provide about 120 apartments with commercial space on the ground floor totaling some 3,000 square feet. “All of the apartments are intended to be workforce housing, with 25 percent of the units committed for twenty years to households earning 80 percent or less of area median income (AMI).” That is, these 30 controlled-rate apartments could rent for more than the vast majority of SHA residents can afford.

SHA handles housing for more than 26,000 Seattle residents, and about 84 percent earn less than 30 percent of the area median income. For King County, HUD estimates that an 80-percenter can pay $1,232 in rent; a 30-percenter could manage just $463 per month.

The plan for Yesler Terrace includes housing for many income levels, including 661 “extremely” low-income units to replace the 561 currently in the neighborhood as well as 290 “very” low-income units and 850 “workforce” units. In addition, the plan calls for 3,199 market-rate units, mostly in high-rise condo and apartment buildings.

Read more about the deal at the SunBreak.

3 thoughts on “SunBreak: First private Yesler Terrace development moving forward at 12th/Yesler

  1. Check out the rents at the Douglas:

    1 bedroom – $1,125 to $1,350 per month
    2 bedroom – $975 to $995 per person, per month
    4 bedroom – $875 to $950 per person, per month
    5 bedroom – $895 to $950 per person, per month

    1 to 4 roommates and you pay more than $900 bucks a month EACH. I talked to an SU student living there who felt she was really getting ripped off, but had to make a last minute housing decision and got stuck there.

    If this developer’s idea of workforce housing is anything like the student housing, John Fox is right: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019204925_taxbreakau

  2. Pingback: Private development of Yesler Terrace kicks off with 12th and Yesler building | Central District News