Rainier Vista schedule extended

Rental housing expected to be finished in Spring 2008

SEATTLE—September 12, 2006—Seattle Housing Authority is adding a year to the schedule for construction of Phase II of the Rainier Vista redevelopment in order to accommodate delays resulting from improvements to the site plan and to mesh more effectively with Sound Transit's construction schedule. Development Director Linda Hall and Rainier Vista Development Manager Ed Rose presented the new schedule to the SHA Board of Commissioners at their regular briefing on September 12. The new plans were also presented to the Rainier Vista Citizens Review Committee later in the day. "The new schedule takes into account several of the delays we experienced that will ultimately improve the project," explained Hall. "We fully expect to bring the project in under this new schedule with the same number of low-income housing units as originally proposed."

Phase I of the Rainier Vista redevelopment project is nearing completion. On the west side of Martin Luther King, Jr. Way S, it includes 125 low-income rental units, plus apartment facilities owned by Housing Resources Group and Providence Health System. Neighborhood House's Rainier Vista Center provides Head Start, a computer lab and other neighborhood services. Currently private builders are completing and selling approximately 131 homes for sale.

After the initial plans for Rainier Vista were established, the Housing Authority had the opportunity to join with other community members in applying for a grant from the Kroc Foundation which would have resulted in a $25 million community center on the site. The Boys & Girls Club would have been one of the beneficiaries of this project. The original plans were substantially revised for this effort. Even though the Kroc application was unsuccessful, the new plans resulted in a reconfiguration of the site to move the Boys & Girls Club further south on the site and provide them with a better location for their new facility.

"We ended up making enough changes in the plans that we had to go back through several steps in the planning and permitting process, including Design Review and preparation of a supplement to the EIS," explained Rose.

The new schedule allows for the necessary time to accomplish these changes, works well for the Boys & Girls Club, and makes it possible to begin construction in the late spring. This schedules the construction more effectively with the weather. It also improves the timing with respect to Sound Transit's construction activities and eases the burden of two major construction projects proceeding simultaneously in the neighborhood.

Deputy Director Al Levine pointed out that pushing the project back a year also allows for more flexibility with the sale of building lots for homes, and will potentially result in higher land values with the completion of Sound Transit's construction. The new schedule also improves timing related to SHA's cash flow needs for the project.

"It is unfortunate that we have to wait another year to bring this new housing on board," noted Levine. "Fortunately, the majority of households who intended to move back to Rainier Vista are already in place in Phase I. We know of six families who have not yet moved back into the neighborhood and would like to do so. We will make every attempt to move them in as soon as vacancies occur in Phase I. Given the various delays that we have experienced and the improved site plan that has resulted, we are convinced that it will be worth the wait."