Construction poised to start on 31 affordable Rainier Valley condos

With a combined total of 70 to-buy units, the new communities will provide more opportunities for Black homeownership and prosperity in the area.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held yesterday to celebrate the start of construction on a 31-unit condominium building at 6740 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S.

Habitat SKKC says the building should be completed in winter 2028. Exxel Pacific is the general contractor. The architect is Cone Architecture.

Habitat SKKC told the DJC it is currently selecting a contractor for the project.

As with all new housing developed by Habitat SKKC in King County, each community will offer families making less than 80% of the area median income affordable homes with mortgages set at no more than 35% of their incomes. In addition, the buildings will be placed in a land trust to ensure permanent affordability for future generations.

All three of the Habitat SKKC and ACHD developments are located on Sound Transit-owned surplus sites along Martin Luther King Jr. Way S. The affordable housing projects are the result of the Rainier Valley Affordable Homeownership Initiative, spearheaded by the city of Seattle and Sound Transit. The initiative’s goal is to create 100 affordable homes across 10 surplus property sites in the historically Black neighborhood. Habitat SKKC and ACHD were selected to develop three of the sites in 2023 following a competitive RFP process.

Financial support for the communities comes from the Seattle Office of Housing, state Department of Commerce, National Housing Trust, and Amazon.

ACHD was founded in 2018 “in response to the skyrocketing cost of living and rampant displacement of African Diaspora communities throughout Seattle and King County.” The nonprofit provides basic needs assistance and holistic and culturally rooted programming to African Diaspora community members. The partnership with Habitat SKKC includes knowledge sharing to enable the nonprofit to add the development of affordable housing units to its core services.

MORE DEVELOPMENT ALONG THE CORRIDOR

ACHD was selected in December to develop an additional eight homes on a Rainier Valley Affordable Homeownership Initiative site at 4853 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S. The timeline for that project is still to be determined.

Other forthcoming developments that are part of the initiative include a 16-home community to be built by Homestead Community Land Trust in partnership with Rainier Beach Action Coalition at 4735 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S. (estimated completion TBD).

The RFP for the final Rainier Valley Affordable Homeownership Initiative site, at 6701 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S., is set to be released this year.

Habitat SKKC opened a 58-unit affordable condominium building at 5022 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S. last month, as the DJC then reported. Called Liberty Commons, that building is the organization’s largest single-building development to date and the largest multifamily building in Habitat for Humanity’s history. Habitat SKKC acquired the land for that project for just over $1.3 million in 2022. Ascent Capital was the seller. Liberty Commons was designed by JW Architects and built by Exxel Pacific.