The OZ Navigator firm recently purchased three parcels in the Rainier Valley neighborhood for $29.8M.

The parcels, located at 900, 912 and 1130 Rainier Avenue South, include the 62K SF Black Manufacturing Building and 40K SF of additional development capacity. The property will be used to build 396 units of workforce and affordable housing apartments with courtyards and street-level retail.

The opportunity fund, led by Nitze-Stagen and Housing Diversity Corp., is using Seattle’s Multifamily Tax Exemption and Mandatory Housing Affordability Program to arrange the unit mix. It is considering a plan that would include 258 apartments for 80% to 110% of area median income, 95 apartments for those at 70% AMI, 33 for the 40% AMI group and 10 units for those making 60% of AMI. The units will be a mix of small efficiency, and one- and two-bedroom apartments.

The multifamily development will be near Judkins Park Light Rail station, which is set to open in 2023. The Black Manufacturing Building will be preserved and used for parking and commercial use. Streetlight Ventures will identify a mix of retail appropriate for the neighborhood. Neiman Taber Architects has been consulting during the early design process.

The project is expected to break ground in late 2021, according to OZ Navigator’s Daniel Gallagher and Lisa Nitze.

Nitze-Stagen has turned its focus on opportunity zone properties in the Seattle area with Canton Lofts and the purchase of an industrial warehouse in SoDo.

Ground broke on the affordable housing project Canton Lofts this fall with a ceremony that included former Seattle Mayor Charley Royer. This is the first development in Seattle that used the opportunity zone program as a long-term, civic-focused financing tool.