CHS broke the news in November on the state’s plans for the 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 years of 520 construction. Under the plan, the development is to be focused on below-market rate condos or townhomes or other affordable options that emphasize ownership.
The legislation on the table this week would authorize the Seattle Office of Housing to use $6 million in appropriation from the state legislature to acquire the surplus Washington State Department of Transportation property at 2625 East Montlake Place E for the development of 50 owner-occupied, permanently affordable homes.
Under the bill, the city would contract for state-appropriated funds, purchase the site from WSDOT, and then issue a competitive request for proposals to select a developer to transfer the land to and build the homes.
Ongoing development funding and financing would be drawn from existing Seattle Housing Levy or “other capital resources.”
CHS reported here in 2024 as bus stops were finally activated atop the Montlake neighborhood’s new lid with 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.
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.”
With the appropriated $6 million and change tied to home ownership requirements, the newly formed Seattle Social Housing Developer would not be eligible to bid on any potential Montlake project. SSHD’s charter is currently limited to building, owning, and managing publicly owned rental housing.
In a presentation on the proposal (PDF), Office of Housing officials describe the Montlake area where the development would take place as an “amenity-rich neighborhood, without affordable homeownership” and reference upzoning expected to eventually be part of Seattle’s next phase of comprehensive plan updates.
Officials say the search for a developer will “encourage” housing with “2+ bedrooms for families,” plus designs with “trees/greenery between the homes and 520, as well as other green building and pollution mitigation strategies” including “ground-floor commercial if feasible” and “creative strategies to mitigate congestion” in the new snarl of traffic that has grown along with the expanded freeway.
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