Downtown Seattle’s well known as a high-barrier-to-entry market for new apartments, but for a really high-barrier market in the Puget Sound, try Mercer Island. Developable space for new project is almost non-existent—almost, but not quite. Work is underway on Mercer Island’s Town Center on the 209-unit Hadley Apartments, a JV development of the local Legacy Partners Residential and Resmark Cos. According to Legacy Partners, it’s the only apartment project to start construction on Mercer Island this year, or next year for that matter.

Legacy senior managing director Kerry Nicholson tells us that the supply of multifamily rental in the downtown Mercer Island area is very limited. “It’s an island of undersupply in a larger market that is very well served with new product,” he explains. The site has been vacant for about a year, after a restaurant and hardware store located there moved elsewhere. The developers will be setting aside 13 units as affordable housing. (Kerry’s snapped, he says, after a drive off the tee that was both long and straight.)