Affordable, modular projects in Tacoma and Seattle

It’s modular construction day here at MFG. While looking into some projects similar to Raines Court, I ran across an article about a multifamily project in Tacoma via Green Building Elements. According to their information, the 110-unit property will be a mix of 60 LIHTC units and 50 ‘affordable townhomes.’ Per the News-Tribune, it appears the townhouses will be for sale product.

Absher Construction, which is serving as contractor, estimates the total project cost at about $23mm. At $209,000/unit, that seems high, so I’ll keep digging. The Tacoma Housing Authority has authorized about $8.5mm in bonds, so the total cost may be much closer to that figure. Construction is expected to be complete by October 2009.

The support from the News-Tribune columnist lays out a very good response to NIMBY-ism and should inspire others who battle this scourge:

“The overall project, will be environmentally friendly and, as Mirra likes to say, lovely.

So, why should we trust him?

This housing authority has demonstrated good faith with its residents and its neighbors.

It brought a neighborhood representative onto the design team.

It paid part of the cost for the traffic light the city installed when it reconfigured the problem intersection at 64th Street East and McKinley.

One objector said the dense development would overburden fire services and be a fire trap. But there’s a new fire station in the neighborhood, and Hillsdale’s site design assures easy access by emergency vehicles.

The housing authority has worked with the Tacoma School District, which says nearby schools can handle the new kids in the neighborhood.

The housing authority and city will improve, and install sidewalks along, the deplorable stretch of 60th Street East bordering the new homes. It will have on-site parking.

Opponents said bringing subsidized housing into the neighborhood would devalue existing homes. The 50 town houses will sell for about $200,000, well in line with values in the neighborhood.

And then there were the charges that the people living in the 60 subsidized rental apartments would bring crime with them.

Salishan, the housing authority’s 1,200-home redevelopment on Portland Avenue, is the rebuttal to that.

It’s safe. And it’s lovely. We can expect the same standards at Hillsdale Heights.”

One more project from the Seattle-Tacoma area.

Unico Properties is planning a 66-unit project in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood. Built by Guerdon, the same firm involved with Hillsdale Heights, the project is expected to start delivery in late 2Q 2009 after a 9-month construction schedule.

This is not a LIHTC deal, but the unit mix is what you would expect for urban infill, mostly 450sf studios and 525sf 1 bedrooms.

The Times had a much longer article in May 2008, which included interior and exterior shots of the proposed units. Tip for Unico: either take your own architectural shots for publication or replace the dead vegetation and paint the panels something besides ‘aggressive bland’. The prototype interior is sandbagged by that horrible exterior.

http://www.unicoprop.com/documents/news/2008/052708%20Inhabit%20forming.pdf