The North Lot – please, no more affordable housing!
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The North Lot – please, no more affordable housing!

It is tough to dispute the fact that the North Lot development will be a great thing for Pioneer Square — most revitalization conversations include statements like “…when the North Lot is finally built” and “just wait until we get the North Lot, then things will be better.” Well, the North Lot has taken another step towards someday being built. A new 15-year Master Use Permit (MUP) was just published for the North Lot this week. Under the new MUP, the North Lot will include:

One residential building (668 units) distributed among three towers (10, 20 and 25-stories)
Ground level retail (21,784 sq. ft.)
399 above grade parking stalls (which will be hidden)

One, 20-story 424,061 sq. ft. office building
ground level retail (11,762 sq. ft.)
502 above grade parking stalls (491 stalls are replacement parking for Qwest Field)

Although construction may still be far away because of lending problems and the state of the economy, there’s another main concern surrounding the development when it comes to Pioneer Square. With just under 1,000 condos + apartments in our neighborhood, almost 70 percent are already dedicated to low-income housing. (link)

The requirement for Daniels Development Co to add affordable housing is a condition from the county as part of the purchase and sale agreement. As it stands, DDC needs to build 100 affordable units. The question right now is whether or not those units are incorporated into the North Lot or are put in the International District. And just to be clear: ID wants them.

“They have tried for years to get affordable housing,” Kevin Daniels said. “They want them.”

International District has been interested in working with DDC to get more development in their neighborhood. If the county continues on their current path, however, they may be required to incorporate them into the North Lot. As part of the Revitalization Committee, one of the comments by Donovan Rypkema is that Pioneer Square needs a lot more market rate housing, and definitely not more affordable housing.

According to Kevin Daniels, the reason that this requirement has been put into place is because a long time ago, Ron Sims looked at our neighborhood and said “we need housing down there and we’re going to get 100 affordable housing units.” In the meantime, we’ve gained more than our fair share of affordable housing, not to mention human services. Some critics say that the North Lot developers are just trying to pass the buck — they get to build higher buildings and then place affordable housing in a different neighborhood. This is a situation where the city needs to take a step back, however, and look at what our neighborhood needs and what the International District is asking for.

So while (most of us) are extremely excited for the North Lot development, our neighborhood needs to send a message to the city and the county: No more affordable housing units in Pioneer Square.

To see more info on the North Lot and to see renderings of what P2 will look like, click here. *Note that the renderings and model are just to give you an idea of size — the design has not yet been completed so we won’t know what they will actually look like until much further down the road.

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