Affordable Apartment Project Advances Near Downtown Bellevue

BELLEVUE, WA — Microsoft's Affordable Housing Initiative will help fund construction for two apartment buildings, aiming to provide more than 235 affordable housing units near Sound Transit's new light rail stations.

Bellevue housing non-profit DASH and developer SRM were greenlit to move ahead with plans to build on a 4.5-acre site at 991 118th Avenue Southeast, which will be close to the East Main light rail stop when the 2 Line begins service in 2023.

One building will provide 135 one and two-bedroom "workforce apartments," which will be available to residents earning between 80 and 100 percent of the area median income — or AMI. The second apartment building will involve converting a half-complete hotel into 100 one, two, and three-bedroom apartments for residents earning below 60 percent AMI.

According to DASH, construction on the first building should begin in the summer and is scheduled to be complete by late next year. The hotel conversion will require a rezone and reconfiguration, with the earliest completion date likely arriving in late 2024.

The non-profit said the project would not have been possible without a $25 million loan from Microsoft's land acquisition program, while an increasingly competitive and expensive housing market added urgency in creating affordable options for workers and families.

Bellevue residents have faced one of the nation's toughest housing markets in recent years, including a 28 percent surge in housing prices last year and median prices that now surpass Manhattan.

"Bellevue is one of the most competitive real estate markets in the country right now," said Conor Hansen, SRM's affordable housing director. "Creating new affordable units in Bellevue, at a variety of income levels is extremely challenging. It requires creative, intentional deals like this one. We could not have brought this deal together without Microsoft's partnership and commitment to affordable housing on the Eastside."