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Northgate Affordable Housing

Northgate Rendering Aspect Ratio 916 610

Northgate Affordable Housing

Community Roots Housing and BRIDGE Housing are partnering to create affordable housing at the Northgate Transit HUB. The project will provide 232 affordable apartments at the site of the Northgate Link light rail station on land owned by King County Metro. The development will include a nearly 10,000-square-foot daycare on the ground floor. The building will be designed to meet Evergreen Sustainable Design Standards and leverage great transit opportunities such as bike lanes and bus connections.

The Northgate Equitable Transit Oriented Development (TOD) will create:

  • An affordable, vibrant, and inclusive community where people of all incomes live close to where they work, play, and shop
  • A community with increased mobility for pedestrians, transit riders and bicyclists served by the new transportation hub
  • An early education space offering a critical asset in the neighborhood
  • A design that leads in environmental sustainability by balancing urban growth and natural resource protection

Location

NE 103rd St. & 3rd Ave. NE

Northgate site map

  • Seattle, King County
  • Northgate neighborhood
    • 15 minutes from central business district
    • High opportunity area
  • Local amenities:
    • Transit station
    • Regional shopping center
    • Grocery stores
    • Library
    • Medical offices
    • Movie theater
    • North Seattle College
    • Kraken practice rinks

Income Qualifications & Apartment Mix

The Northgate project will include a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments serving 30% to 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI).

Project Background

  • Joint venture partnership
    • BRIDGE Housing & Community Roots Housing
  • Financing
    • 4% tax credits
    • $27.6 million – King County TOD funds
    • $1.05 million – Seattle Housing Authority, Buy Up Program
    • $1.5 million – City of Seattle COVID relief funds for childcare

Community engagement

Meetings were held in February and March 2021. We extend our deepest gratitude to community members who offered input. Contact the project partners with questions at communityoutreach@communityrootshousing.org. Please note that any information collected may be made public.

Community engagement process summary

The community engagement survey posed five main questions. We collected 26 responses with a 100% completion rate in the completed survey. From these 26 responses, we included five random responses for each question:

  • There’s new transit coming, more affordable housing, and more people, yay!
  • People of color are being priced out; service industry people are being priced out.
  • Noise/construction ruining views. More soundproof insulation, gardens, rooftop with trees anything to prevent further unhelpful development/construction, as much nature as possible.
  • More traffic, making streets more unfriendly for pedestrians. Create plenty of pedestrian-oriented space, spaces for casual gathering, bumping into one another, and social interaction. Places for kids to play! Make the whole design kid- and family friendly!
  • Increased transit options and foot traffic in the neighborhood are both great. New housing developments should be aligned with pedestrian walking patterns and have adequate bike and alternative transportation infrastructure (bike storage, scooter charging stations, etc.)
  • I live in Lake City and love our farmers market and community events. Really feels local.
  • I walked to a local brewery and bought some pastries from the owner that he bought from a Lake City coffee shop and we talked about the weather. I got delicious local food and an ethical consumption halo.
  • The Thornton Creek Watershed project invites people to live alongside — or simply stroll alongside — a vital natural environment.
  • Haller Lake Community Club tries to build connection and has passionate people interested in making our city safe, clean, and inclusive.
  • I lived in the area when plans were developed to daylight Thornton Creek. My recollection was the initial developer did not want to work with the community and it caused issues and they pulled out of the project. A new developer, I think Lorig, came in to work on the Thornton Creek daylighting project that is now the Thornton Place complex and Aljoya along with the city park. My understanding is the new developer listened to the community and the outcome has been a redevelopment that enhanced the neighborhood and North Seattle in general with the mixed-use property and the open space/park as the centerpiece.
  • The healthy trends are the redevelopment plans around the light rail station and the mall – providing more housing options, especially affordable housing in the area near light rail and many new amenities for the neighborhood too. For unhealthy trends, increased homelessness in the area, people experiencing mental health crises, drug use, and car break ins/cars stolen/car parts stolen.
  • Healthy trends include developing affordable housing for individuals and families that need it.
  • Increased online communications via social media and community platforms I referred to in previous answers are healthy in the sense that people are reaching out and finding connection. Unhealthy – perhaps an exacerbation of the Seattle freeze, NIMBYism and tribalism – sigh – what can I say….
  • Vagrants lurking and panhandling. Filthy “homeless” camps full of drug dealing, trash, needles, rats and vermin. Petty crime, car prowls, mail stealing rampant. No street-level community policing presence. Cops just drive through in their cruisers. Extreme delays in 911 responses to car thefts and other crimes.
  • Northaven Senior Living is a great community asset there, and they’re building a new development too! Testing Testing.
  • CHILDCARE! Community center programming. Affordable housing. Affordable commercial space. More culturally relevant stores, businesses, food. healthy food! Opportunities to experience nature.
  • Community center/public gathering spaces, childcare near the light rail station, ability to safely travel through the neighborhood without a car.
  • Need walkable grocery stores.
  • Improved public safety.
  • Clean up of homeless and monitoring of the north for homeless – unfortunately there are more homeless but appears to be more our way of those who choose to be homeless for many reasons.
  • More business pull to the north. Bridge of community to Snohomish county and towns around us in King County. High rise buildings. I believe the major is the hockey training center and the upcoming housing development. More restaurants, electric car stations, car rental locations, more entertainment in general.
  • I’m very excited about the light link rail, I think it will make the city more easily accessible, though that will probably impact the feeling of community.
  • 1) Everyone has a place to live. 2) Everyone has an affordable place to live that meets their needs. 3) We are able to grow communities that don’t depend on car usage to get to food, friends, and other needs.
  • The neighborhood becomes more like an urban neighborhood and less like a freeway interchange where fast food and gas stations are the predominant businesses. I envision an area with dense housing, shops, parks and playgrounds. People travel by foot or by bike to get groceries or visit other amenities.
  • This neighborhood has higher education, health care, library, entertainment, nature, shopping, and transportation. It has a history of innovation (Northgate Mall) – and surely opportunities to unfold through the neighborhood presence of the Kraken. It is currently known for none of these. Aim high! Don’t lose this opportunity to do much for the population of North Seattle that has been left behind.

Key Project Partners

Community Roots Housing and BRIDGE bring over 75 years of combined experience developing affordable and vibrant communities.

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Ankrom Moisan is the architect on the project, and El Centro de la Raza will operate the childcare space.

Logo2El Centro De La Raza

Media

“Renters shouldn’t have to choose between a home that’s affordable and one that’s close to work and transit. This project adds hundreds of affordable units next to one of the most significant transit hubs in King County, connecting more people to the greenest way to get around. “

Dow Constantine
King County Executive

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