2021 Private Development -- Low Affordablity, High Commercial

Rendering of Redmond Square (facing light rail) ckos.com

Recap of Redmond Council's 9/14 Study session:

PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT: Summary: 1) excessive commercial space (office space; industrial; multi-family rentals; and retail.) 2) lack of affordable housing units.  

• Of significance, Commercial Space grew 90% from last year.  7,500sf (2020) 77,912sf (2021)  The senior planner glazed over this; council didn't raise any questions. Redmond is becoming a retail desert.  Our planners should report retail statistics and be held accountable. 
• Staff reported 58 Pre-Applications on all projects under review.  😩
• Nelson "Project One,"  4,316 Sq ft Commercial proposed, 25 Affordable units,Woonerf and Open Space.
• Redmond Square:  623 New units, only 62 affordable units, 30,000 Commercial SqFt Retail is getting shoved out.
• Redmond Sunrise Apartments:  93 dwelling units. 2,000 SqFt Commercial (yes, more) Roof top activity deck and Car stackers. Innovative design! 
• LMC South Marymoor Village: 284 Units, 28 low-cost affordble units. Why is 10% affordable units the city standard for all these projects?  Why not an extra story to incent 25% affordable?
• The Spark, 217 Dwelling units, 12,800 Sqft proposed. Here we go again:  22 affordable units.
• Proctor Willows:  195 Dwelling Units, 20 affordable,  22,000 Sq ft. commercial (yep) Trails/Public Art. (Yay)
• NOTE:  President Padhye asked the Planning Director why 10% affordable units are so common in developments. The Director appeared to brush this aside saying the large projects have a higher percentage of affordable.  Why not an extra story to incent 25% affordable?

This clip was taken during Council's Private Development discussion in City Hall. CM Vanessa Kritzer is the first to speak.  She was concerned with the retail driven out of Redmond Square and other developments.  She thought shoppers may have to take light rail to get their things.  Council V.P. Jeralee Anderson asked Planning Director Carol Helland questions related to parking challenges.  Jaralee is up for re-election in November.  

Watch the video in full screen.  It makes a big difference.

 -- Bob Yoder, 9/20/2021 

L.W. School District Buys 25 Acres For Future Schools

Lake Washington School District 
Learning Areas

With 16,000 housing units planned for development in the next 10 years the District is scrambling for any buildable land they can find.  Luck has it, Cadman Gravel was willing to sell the District 25.46 acres.  The land is in S.E. Redmond, east of SR 520 and south of Union Hill.  Federal Express is directly to the West; Costco is just northwest. 

Elementary and secondary schools can be accommodated on the parcel.  One of the finest amenities, in my opinion, is it's proximity to nature preserves, trails and parks. It abuts the riparian habitat of Evans Creek while keeping within the Urban Growth Boundary.  Thousands of housing units may be built south of the property; students can walk to school.  The land is adjacent to a dynamic commercial district.  The regional amenities of light rail, Marymoor Park and trails are not far-off.  

The purchase price is $40,000,000.  Funding sources are:  the Rose Hill property sale ($18,000,000,) April 2016 bond project balance ($20,000.000,) and the Capital Levy. The bond and levy received construction assistance funds.  

Superintendent Barbara Posthumous spent plenty of time talking about the growth within our region, 
pressuring the District.  Some of the news is alarming:   King County is the fourth largest county in the country by population growth; LWSD is the fastest growing District in King county.  LWSD enrollment has grown by 31% (7,337 students) since 2008 and is expecting continued growth of 11% for the next ten years, bringing in an additional 3,450 students. The majority of the district’s schools are at or over capacity, and continued population growth will only exacerbate this.

Totem Lake is projected to have 3,600 new housing units within ten years; with downtown Kirkland and Rose Hill 1900 new units.  The City of Redmond city center and Marymoor Village are projected to have 3200 new units.  Sammamish projects 1274 units in the next ten years.  Redmond has the largest growth of any city in the District.

Twenty-nine of 41 schools are at or over capacity at this time.  LWSD is the second largest District in the State.  

Ongoing business growth on the Eastside is rapid:  Google plans to add up to 1 million square feet of office space in Kirkland. Amazon is bringing 300-600 engineers to Redmond.  A major Facebook business unit is moving onto Willows Road; the large Proctor housing development will service them.

--Reported by Bob Yoder, 4/22/2021

I want to thank Barbara Posthumous, Associate Superintendent of Business and Support for her excellent presentation on the land purchase.  Ms. Posthumous is also the C.F.O. of the District.  Barbara gave her presentation during the District Business Meeting of April 19th.  

Green Rooftop And Vertical Garden Building Incentives

Overlake Medical Center Pavilion

Note the patio furniture and benches

Redmond is committed to initiatives that preserve our natural resources and enhance the long-term environmental sustainability of our community. The City’s environmental programs and initiatives are concentrated in four key areas to cultivate a thriving environment; two of which are: *stormwater runoff management  and preserving and enhancing green space, the tree canopy and *natural habitat.  

Despite being a biologist and knowing the benefits of green rooftops Mayor Birney states "staff are not presently advancing policy or code development work specifically related to green roofs. The staff are focused on updating the Comprehensive Plan in its entirety....)  2/17/2021  Why is the Mayor leaving green roof policy up to staff?  Doesn't the Council set policy?  With each passing year, projects are developed in Redmond yielding literally acres of rooftop that will never be green. For a City that prides itself in environmental sustainability, the Administration is leaving the citizens behind as it races to accommodate growth. 

Incentives:  Just as we use art, height, courtyard architecture, trees and other features for project incentives we can do the same for green rooftops and vertical gardens. In the Quadrant/Proctor 10-minute community site on Willows & 124th, the Administration offered four Green development incentives.  The four options offered:  1) electric vehicle charging, 2) green roofs, 3) solar panels on the townhomes, and 4) solar panels on the community buildings. Quadrant was required to use two of the four options. If green incentives can be used at this development why not others?

It's my hope our Mayor will support Green policy guidance from our representatives and not leave everything up to the Development and Engagement office.  

-- Bob Yoder, 3/4/2021

   Sources:  Note from Mayor Birney, 2/17/2021

   Blog piece on Proctor development

   redmond.gov 

   Photo, Bob Yoder

Significant Private Projects In The Pipeline

LMC, 265 dwelling units. 5 story, by Marymoor trail

On August 11, Planning and Development Manager, Sarah Pyle presented the City's annual summary of Private Development Projects in a Council Committee meeting.  Below are the facts:

In 2019: 132 SFH, 233 multi-family units and 24,400 s.f. commercial space were built.

2020 YTD: 61 SFH, 895 multi-family units, 610,766 sf commercial space.

Single Family Home construction hasn't changed significantly between 2019 to 2020 but increases in multi-family units and commercial square footage are exceptional.  

About 11 projects were presented; I'll focus on five:  

The most significant is "Redmond Square."  It's on the corner of 166th and Redmond Way.  Over 13 businesses will have to move. To name a few: John L. Scott, the Pony Express, Ed Wyse, Pizza Hut, Noodeland, Beyond Beauty, Flying Apron, Bamboo Gardens, Modera Bakery, Beauty Supply, Acupuncture, Vision Clinic, and a Yoga business. 

What we will get:  "Redmond Square" looks like two separate buildings but functions as one. It's a monolith.  613 dwelling units, 61 affordable units (80% AMI,) 33,000 sf commercial space, adjacent to transit station. Parking?  I was informed by one of the business owners demolition will begin early 2021. (The city throws up barriers when validating timelines.)  

"Harmony" drew the most questions and comments from Council.  Councilmember Vanessa Kritzer seemed skeptical about 1) it's absence of affordable housing and 2) the unusual housing type for our downtown. Harmony living spaces are tiny. It has 9 dwelling units of 465 sf and and 91 "residential suites" of 155 sf each. They will rent out for $1100. No school impact fees. The residential suites share a kitchen and living room with each other.  Steve Fields wanted Council to be more involved in these developments and Tanika Padeya suggested an amendment to require affordable housing.

The "Together Center, a nonprofit human services center of over 20 years will be redeveloped. Paid-off.  49,000 sf commercial, 280 dwelling units, 280 affordable units at 60% AMI, 30 parking spaces, 2-stories, art at gateway.  Completion expected by 12/2021. 

Proctor:  NW Redmond -- Willows Road & 124th.  Construction will be challenged by steep slope. Stats:  

87, 3-story townhomes, 9 affordable at 80% AMI, signal at 124th. two community parks.  195 dwelling units, 80% AMI, 22,000 sf commercial, trails and open space. Proctor will be a "10-minute community" servicing the businesses on Willows Road, including a subsidiary of Facebook. 

Amazon:  Macy's in Redmond Town Center is being renovated to accomodate ~ 300  Amazon engineers, working on their satellite space project.  Macy's departed.  

-- Bob Yoder
    9/1/2020

UPDATED: "10 Minute Communities" Are A Model For Smart Planning

The holistic development of Northgate is similar, in a few ways, to Redmond's hopes of developing and morphing Marymoor Village into a 10-Minute Community (on a much larger scale than  "Proctor." ..scroll.)   Both will have light rail and transit parking.  In the Village, I envision:  Well-designed  mid-rise residential towers built-up through incentive programs to capture affordable housing (60% AMI) and additional parking.  Diverse retail, medical, office, and commercial space with roof gardens, all within a 10 Minute walking distance. Marymoor Park amenities, regional trails and a regional aquatics center all a bike ride away.  Perhaps a downtown core with an arts studio, a Harvey Carter museum, a night club, a recreational business, wide sidewalks for outdoor restaurants, scooters, and rain gardens. Even a school. Though light rail is four years away, the city should come forth with a simple, rough graphic like Northgate's for the community. -     B.Yoder

For your information, below is a recent King County Press Release announcing plans for 232 affordable housing units near the Northgate Light Rail Station.

King County and City of Seattle, along with their partners BRIDGE Housing Corporation and Capitol Hill Housing (CHH) have come to a pre-development agreement to develop land owned by King County Metro into 232 affordable housing units near the future site of the Northgate Link light rail station. All units will be affordable to households earning 60 percent or less of the area median income – in 2019, that’s $66,420 for a family of four. The development will provide a mix of unit sizes including at least 52 two- or three-bedroom units, and 24 units will be reserved for system-connected households. Groundbreaking 2022 Anticipated development agreement and ground lease are expected to be transmitted to council by summer 2020, with ground-breaking to follow in 2022. “Renters shouldn’t have to choose between a home that’s affordable, and one that’s close to work and transit. This project adds hundreds of affordable units next to one of the most significant transit hubs in King County, connecting more people to the greenest way to get around,” said King County Executive Constantine. -- King County Press Release    11/17/2020

OPINION: Planned development on corner of Willows & 124th brings challenges and opportunities

Could something like this happen here? haha
Internet 

Updated 1/29, 1:01 PM

Quadrant is working with the City to develop "Business District" property at the intersection of NE 124th Street and Willows Road on the Southwest corner. The Planning Commission was very involved.

Here goes. 

The Applicant (Fred Proctor) is proposing a mixed-use development consisting of approximately 370 residential units with a variety of housing types that would include for-sale townhomes, triplex and traditional for-rent apartment style dwellings. The development would also include a minimum of 20,000 sq. ft. of ground-level or stand-alone retail or commercial space, to include neighborhood-scale commercial uses, office, and/or day care center uses.

Willows Road is already congested and traffic is poor here; and will be more challenged when Facebook moves in.  Council member Myers calls this development "a ten minute community" where many of the residents can work nearby, keeping cars off the road (with some shopping at Totem Lake.)  A necessary signal on 124th is sure to slow traffic. The development is virtually it's own neighborhood.

To mitigate traffic the City will try to work with Metro for all day service.  Right now it's AM / PM.  Whenever possible, I won't be driving through this corner.  A new sidewalk is planned on 124th is to connect a northern and western trail, I assume for pedestrian and bicycle mobility.

The range of housing types creates needed flexibility to integrate with the site and creates more variation in housing affordability:

  >10% of the townhomes will be at 80% of average monthly income.
  >10% of the apartments will be at 70% of average monthly income.

The development will include open space tracts, landscaped active and passive recreation, a trail network, and potentially, a gateway/bike rest stop feature on the northeast corner of the site.  Open space is 20% of the site.

Green development incentives specific to the site are 1) electric vehicle charging, 2) green roofs, 3) solar panels on townhomes, 4) solar panels on community buildings.  Quadrant is required to use two of the four options.  Council member Myers said solar is a poor choice for our region since "there is a -500% rate of return."

What's your opinion?

For development diagrams, plans and mapping click this link.

https://redmond.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=6991868&GUID=8B0CADAE-4CB4-498E-B110-FFD3C43BA5D7

  -- Bob Yoder, opinion

Source:  1/27/2019 Council study session & memo