January 9, 2025
Exxel Pacific starts 234 Bellevue units, all affordable, next to Spring District
Real Estate Editor
Rendering by GGLO [enlarge]
Bridge Housing is developing the two-building, 234-unit effort on surplus land from Sound Transit.
With no fanfare or announcement, work began last month on an affordable housing project directly west of the Spring District in Bellevue.
Bridge Housing is developing the two-building, 234-unit effort on surplus land deeded to it by Sound Transit, at 1899 120th Ave. N.E.
The plan, part of the larger OMF East, has been brewing for years. Final permits came in September, as the DJC then reported, and the zero-dollar land deal followed in December. (The city also contributed some land.) GGLO is the architect, and Exxel Pacific the builder.
Sound Transit’s website signaled last month that the project was then underway, which Puget Sound Business Journal reported earlier this week.
Bridge now has about 1.8 acres, north of the Audi dealership, on the larger expanse that’s south of Sound Transit’s Eastside Operations and Maintenance Facility. Other portions of that will be later be developed by Touchstone, with two possible office buildings, and Essex Property Trust, which is planning two mostly market-rate apartment buildings. There’s no declared schedule for that.
The affordable housing will likely have a new name by the time it opens in early 2027, per Sound Transit’s timeline. The agency previously valued the project at $500 million.
(Update: Bridge CEO Ken Lombard said after deadline, “This transit-oriented community is well-located near job centers, recreation areas and excellent schools. We’re pleased to be working in partnership with Sound Transit, Amazon, the city of Bellevue and others to help close the affordability gap with high-quality housing and services that improve the lives of residents.”)
Funding sources were well known in advance, and a series of loans was recorded last month by the county. Notable contributors include the county, city, state, Amazon Housing Equity Fund (with just over $22 million), Citibank and JLL Real Estate Capital (with $68.8 million backed by the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program), the Washington State Housing Finance Commission (via a bond issue), National Affordable Housing Trust, Evergreen Impact Housing Fund, and ARCH (aka A Regional Coalition for Housing).
The Bridge team also includes Bush, Roed & Hitchings, surveyor; Coughlin Porter Lundeen, civil engineer; GeoEngineers, geotechnical; Atlas Design Group, structural engineer; Rushing (now part of IMEG), MEP, lighting and energy compliance; TenW, traffic consultant; Gerber Engineering, electrical; Emerald Aire and Abossein Engineering, mechanical; Alpine Engineers, plumbing; Jensen Hughes, smoke control; A3 Acoustics; Studio Pacifica, accessibility consultant; Allana Buick & Bers, envelope; Prime Electric; and Santa, groundwork.
The triangular six-story north building will have 84 units, and the larger south building will have seven stories and 150 units. Apartments will run from studios to three-beds, with sizes ranging from about 400 to 1,040 square feet.
Total project size is about 252,955 square feet. That includes amenities and 57 partly underground parking stalls for the south building. The north building will have 25 surface stalls.
Rents will be affordable to households earning in a range from 30% of area median income (or less, in some cases) up to 80% of AMI. Forty units will be reserved for folks with developmental disabilities. The project won’t offer permanent supportive housing, which generally serves those transitioning out of homelessness.
The larger OMF East site has about 6.8 acres, and is bounded to the west by Eastrail. The 2 Line’s light-rail tracks are south of the Audi complex, with a spur line parallel to Eastrail that leads to the train repair barn and storage yards. Light-rail service should finally connect Seattle and the Eastside this fall.
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