Ground broken on 86 affordable units in Central District

LIHI and project partner the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd have broken ground on a new affordable housing project on two parcels of land owned by the church at 1415 and 1419 22nd Ave.

When the new seven-story building, called Good Shepard Housing, is complete it will have 86 units with 18 studio apartments for low-wage workers, 66 small efficiency dwelling units for the formerly homeless and one manager’s unit. A building manager’s office and parking for nine vehicles is also planned.

The ground level of the building will house a separate three-bedroom unit, with its own private entrance, to be occupied by the church’s minister. The project is being built adjacent to the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd which has occupied its building at 2116 E. Union St. since 1951. It will also rise in an area surrounded by new developments that include Lake Union Partners’ East Union apartments, which opened in 2020, and the 432-unit Midtown Square which opened in 2021.

The project is adjacent to the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd. Rendering by Runberg Architecture Group.

Walsh Construction Co. is the general contractor for Good Shepard Housing. Runberg Architecture Group is the architect. The project team also includes 4EA Building Science. A single-family home, built in the 1950s, was removed from the parcel at 1415 22nd Ave. to make way for the new development this fall.

This project is the result of a years-long relationship between the church and LIHI. 1419 22nd Ave. was the location of LIHI’s first tiny house village which opened there in 2015 and operated until 2020. “We value this partnership with the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd. We applaud the Church for leasing their land long-term to LIHI to create permanently affordable housing for vulnerable people who are unhoused or cost burdened. We are blessed with their compassionate leadership as other churches have sold their land to for-profit developers instead,” Sharon Lee, director of LIHI, said in a press release.

The project was first announced in August and is projected to be completed in spring 2024. It is made possible through an ordinance, adopted in June 2021, that provides development bonuses for affordable housing on property owned by religious organizations. The ordinance allows additional height and floor area to create a greater number of homes if all housing created on the site is affordable to households earning up to 80% of area median income for at least 50 years. The project is funded with the aid of an $8.2 million grant from the city of Seattle’s Office of Housing. Additional funders include Enterprise, Heritage Bank, State of Washington Housing Trust, Federal Home Loan Bank and Wyncote Foundation NW.

~From The Daily Journal of Commerce submitted by LIHI