Real Estate Editor
During 2019-2020, Weidner Apartment Homes assembled a nearly full city block in downtown Wenatchee. The sellers included the city, which conveyed a parking lot for $1.4 million. East of that is the Old Wenatchee Jail; that and two other structures were obtained for $720,000 from a private party. What follows has two components.
The west site is at 201 S. Mission St., on the corner of Kittitas Street. There, Milbrandt Architects designed the seven-story, 212-unit Majestic apartments. That goes on the old city parking lot, spanning about 1.2 acres. Builder Exxel Pacific recently said on Instagram that the project had begun, as local media have also reported. Weidner signed a development agreement with the city in 2019, when its plan also passed through SEPA review; the project later entered city review. Final permits came last month.
Construction is to be Type III-A and Type V-A wood over Type I-A concrete. Weidner’s website says that pre-leasing will begin in the spring of 2027. Units are to range from studios to two-beds. About a dozen apartments will be live/work units at grade. Size above grade looks to be around 462,000 square feet. The building footprint has an E-shape, with its two light wells facing east to an alley.
Amenities include a bike room, fitness center, club room and roof deck with grilling stations. The 341 parking stalls, some with EV charging, will be on one structured and two underground levels.
The Majestic team also includes Forsgren Associates, civil engineer; CT Engineering, structural; Design West Engineering, MEP; OAC Seattle, envelope; and UMB Bank, which supplied the $45 million construction loan.
NEW USE FOR OLD JAIL
Then, on the east side of the alley, at 238 S. Wenatchee Ave., the over century-old jail is to be renovated for boutique retail and restaurant use. The leasing effort for that and two new buildings is underway, and some bays appear to have been claimed.
Graham Baba Architects is designing the renovation/addition project, with a team that also includes Forsgren Associates, civil engineer; Swenson Say Faget, structural engineer; GGLO, landscape architect; PAE, fire protection and MEP systems; Tenor Engineering, acoustic engineer; C. Anthony Fodden, specification writer; 4EA, envelope; and Studio Pacifica, accessibility consultant.
The two-story jail, originally a hotel, has about 2,736 square feet. Those two floors have been claimed by Miss Veedol’s, per leasing materials from Ryan Cornish at Pacific Asset Advisors and Angela Oliveri of First Western Properties.
The flanking north and south buildings will have about 8,443 square feet. The new south building, on the corner of Kittitas, will have a second story with a large terrace; that’ll be home to Col’s Bakery & Bistro. Two bays in the new north building remain unclaimed.
A new courtyard is indicated to the east of the former jail (facing Wenatchee), which in renderings appears to be connected by a skybridge to the south building.
Weidner’s entire site is near Wenatchee Station, with its Amtrak service, a few blocks west of the Columbia River. Based in Kirkland, Weidner is both an investor and developer; it lists a U.S. portfolio of nearly 69,000 units, plus another 6,000-plus units in Canada.
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