(Image: Seattle Social Housing Developer)
Seattle’s social housing initiative is officially a reality. Following a unanimous vote by the Seattle Social Housing Developer board, the public authority is set to become the new owner of the Elara at the Market apartment complex.
Located at 2134 Western Ave next to Pike Place Market and the new Waterfront Park, the Belltown building price will come in at $60 million — or $400,000 a unit — a price SSHD officials say is below recent downtown sales for comparable buildings.
Johnson Development, “a multi-division national real estate developer of industrial, multifamily, self-storage, and commercial properties,” has held the property since acquiring it for $8 million in 2015. It opened the Elara to residents two years later following construction.
“As a housing developer, SSHD is different than most. It’s not about profit for us. SSHD believes housing is a public good,” the announcement on the deal reads. “The developer aims to provide high quality housing that fosters community, is inclusive, permanently affordable, and climate forward.”
CHS reported here in February as a stronger than expected tax boost powered SSHD to a $115 million start on its mission to acquire and develop affordable housing in the city thanks to the first payments from the voter-approved February 2025 Prop 1A 5% tax on employers that pay any employee more than $1 million in compensation.
The year also started with a shakeup for the newly formed development organization as affordable housing advocate Tiffani McCoy was named to lead the authority created to build or acquire 2,000 units of affordable housing over the next decade in Seattle. Seattle voters approved formation of the public developer and later the 5% tax.
Unlike other recent progressive revenue streams like city’s JumpStart tax that was formed to help preserve social services during the pandemic but has since been used to help patch over holes in general funding, Seattle’s Excess Compensation Tax has been architected to withstand that kind of erosion. By law, at least 95% of the tax revenue must be transferred directly to the SSHD.
(Image: Seattle Social Housing Developer)
The transition will bring immediate changes for Elara residents. SSHD is eliminating bike storage and pest control fees, moving away from the Ratio Utility Billing System, and freezing current lease rents through June 2028. Additionally, tenants will receive free, one-year ORCA passes subsidized by King County Metro.
The exact number of people currently residing in the Elara at the Market building was not specified. The building has 150 total units. Seattle Social Housing officials say they plan to fill the first vacancies under affordable housing tiers this year.
Under the social housing model, units are tied to income tiers. SSHD plans to fill 60 units of deeply affordable housing this year, dedicating 15 upcoming vacancies to households at or below 30% of the median income and another 45 units to those between 30% and 50% AMI.
The purchase is expected to close by mid-June, and an online application lottery is already live on the SSHD website.
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month — or choose your level of support 
