October 27, 2026
Photos by Brian Miller
The larger south building should open by year’s end.
Bridge Housing hasn’t formally announced it yet, but the first building at its new Briar apartments, next to the Spring District in Bellevue, began leasing in August.
The second south building should open in December, says Sound Transit. Briar is a new name for the 234-unit development, now going by 11990 N.E. 17th St., on land donated by the transit agency. (Briar is the primary affordable housing component associated with its OMF East facility.)
Exxel Pacific began work on the 1.8-acre site in December of 2024; GGLO is the architect for the midrise development. Funding sources included the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, city, county, Citibank, JLL Real Estate Capital, federal low-income housing tax credits, the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, the National Affordable Housing Trust, the Evergreen Impact Housing Fund and ARCH (aka A Regional Coalition for Housing).
On the west side of 120th Avenue, the entire OMF East expanse also includes Sound Transit’s rail yard and maintenance building — and more land where Essex Property Trust and Touchstone, respectively, are planning more apartments and two possible office buildings. The triangle to develop, including the Bridge site, spans nearly 7 acres. It’s immediately north of the Audi dealership.
And the smaller, wedge-shaped north building, now leasing.
Total project size for the midrise duo is around 252,955 square feet. That includes amenities and 82 surface and partly underground parking stalls. The smaller north building has 84 units, and the larger south building has 150 units. Apartments run from studios to three-beds, with sizes in a range from about 463 to 1,003 square feet.
Apartments are affordable to households earning between 30% and 80% of area median income. Some units are more deeply affordable, and 40 will be reserved for residents with developmental disabilities.
The Briar website is currently offering one month’s free rent on selected studios. Featured units include a 427-square-foot studio that rents for $1,374 monthly. A three-bed, with 1,000 square feet, goes for $2,036.
Amenities include a children’s playground, bike storage, dog run, package lockers, and more.
The Briar team also included 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; Santa, groundwork; and Brighthaven Communities, the new property manager.
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