SEATTLE—August 20, 2004—Three local home builders—Polygon Northwest, Bennett/Sherman and Family Pryde—have entered into a landmark public-private partnership with Seattle Housing Authority to build and market 180 new homes. The builders have recently purchased lots from Seattle Housing in the emerging new neighborhood adjacent to Sound Transit’s Othello Station in Southeast Seattle. 

According to Seattle Housing project manager Tom Phillips, “We are excited to bring the work of these builders into the city. I’m confident that they will provide excellent choices and high quality homes to help meet the demand for new housing in Seattle.”

The three builders will add significantly to the inventory of new homes for sale in Southeast Seattle, with a wide range of prices to the high $300,000s.

The total value of the lot sales is over $11.8 million. “This partnership allows the neighborhood and homebuyers to benefit from the expertise of these capable builders. At the same time, it maximizes the proceeds to the Housing Authority.” Proceeds from these land sales make it possible for Seattle Housing to finance new low-income housing in the same neighborhood and elsewhere in Seattle.

Seattle Housing served successfully as developer/builder of the first 200 for-sale homes at NewHolly. However, as a public agency we are not organized to efficiently build and sell to home buyers in a competitive market place, therefore Seattle Housing directors concluded that private builders could better reflect buyers’ preferences and build the remainder of the new homes more efficiently.

Seattle Housing continues to direct the design of the new homes. All proposed designs must comply with a set of stringent design guidelines, written specifically for New Holly.

The largest purchaser of building lots is Polygon Northwest, which plans to build about 150 new homes in the area west of the intersection of Othello Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Polygon will build both single family and townhouses, some with carriage houses. Polygon expects to offer its new homes with selling prices from $195,000 to $264,000.

A partnership between Bennett Homes and Sherman Homes has been created to acquire 22 lots south of Othello Street. The partnership will build and market 22 single family homes, with prices beginning around $340,000. This land sale closed on July 16, and construction is now underway, with substantial completion expected by January 2007.

Family Pryde was the first builder to purchase land in the New Holly neighborhood. This Eastside company bought 8 lots on S. Holly Place, along with the plans and permits for the lots. The eight duplex homes have been under construction since March and are available for sale now with move-in this fall. The homes, all on the same block on the north side of S. Holly Pl. between 33rd Pl. S. and 34th Pl. S., are nearly complete.

All three builders have had successful experience building new developments in Seattle’s suburbs. Seattle Housing’s major redevelopment of the old Holly Park site in Southeast Seattle created an opportunity for builders to purchase large land parcels within a new neighborhood within the city limits.

With the construction of new rental housing well underway south of Othello Street, the work of these builders will complete the housing in this new neighborhood. When complete, the entire neighborhood will consist of about 1,400 new homes. New services, including the NewHolly branch of the Seattle Public Library and a branch campus of South Seattle Community College, provide desirable new neighborhood amenities.

The builders will build in a variety of price ranges so that some of the new housing will be affordable to first time home buyers and other less affluent owners as well as to higher-income buyers. Seattle Housing intends for the new neighborhood to be economically diverse, and the new homes will be marketed just as any other group of new homes in the city.

A recent study commissioned by the City of Seattle Office of Housing examined housing demand and supply in three Seattle Neighborhoods, including Southeast Seattle. Conducted by Real Vision Research, Inc., the study noted that the new housing being created by this redevelopment project will be welcomed by in-city buyers seeking housing near transit and convenient to downtown.

The Housing Authority also plans to sell lots to private builders at its other two major redevelopment sites, Rainier Vista near Columbia City and High Point in West Seattle.