Mt. Baker Housing, a local nonprofit and affordable housing developer, plans a new affordable housing development in the Seattle Rainier Beach neighborhood. The proposed development is near Sound Transit’s Rainier Beach light rail station and the Rainier Beach Community Center. The 50K SF site will serve as home to the Rainier Valley Food Bank’s community food center.

The development will feature views of Lake Washington and parks. It will include studio apartments as well as one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The project will utilize the city’s Mandatory Housing Affordability zoning and will include MHA units on-site.

This is Enterprise Washington’s first Seattle project to utilize its public-private Regional Equitable Development Initiative Fund. The REDI Fund recently launched to help finance the acquisition of property along transit corridors to preserve the affordability of future housing. Projects financed by the REDI Fund must have a minimum of 10% of units affordable to households at or below 80% of area median income, or 20% below the market rent for a comparable unit in the submarket of the acquired property.

Construction is planned for 2020. Vince Vondada at Core Commercial served as broker for the buyer and seller. MBH purchased the site for $4.2M.