Cascade Court Apartments Seattle Washington

VOLUME 25 NUMBER 18 OCTOBER-DECEMBER 1995

RESIDENTIAL CASCADE COURT APARTMENTS SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

PROJECT TYPE

A 100-unit, affordable housing project on a close-in, urban site, the fourth such project completed by the developer, architect, and contractor team. The project received a low-interest loan from the Washington State Affordable Housing Program, and Seattle-based retailer Nordstrom purchased low-income tax credits by contributing $4.7 million in equity for the project.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Downtown site Low-income housing Public/private development Not-for-profit developer Infill development

DEVELOPER

Seattle Housing Resources Group 500 Union Street Suite 320 Seattle, Washington 98101-2332 206-623-0506

ARCHITECT

GGLO Architecture and Interior Design 1191 Second Avenue Suite 1650 Seattle, Washington 98101-2966 206-467-5828

CONTRACTOR

The Rafn Company 4010 Lake Washington Boulevard, N.E. Suite 301 Kirkland, Washington 98033 206-828-0800 GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Cascade Court Apartments, in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood, represents a creative approach to providing low-income housing for the working poor, using philanthropy, equity investment from a corporate citizen, and local and state loans. This 100-unit residential building is the fourth such project completed by the developer, architect, and contractor team. Cascade Court is located adjacent to the historic Stimson Green Mansion, from which it derives elements of its architectural style.

THE SITE AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

The development, located within walking distance of Seattle's downtown, is situated on half a city block. First Hill Park and the Stimson Green Mansion, built in 1900, comprise the remainder of the block. Once the location of three large houses, the site had become a parking lot and a haven for urban drug dealers and prostitutes.

Adjacent blocks contain high-rise residential buildings, and the most obvious reuse of the site would have been for market-rate apartment development, either rental or ownership. The zoning permitted development of up to 24 stories of residential use on the site.

Patricia Bullitt Collins, who lives in the neighborhood and whose grandfather, C. D. Stimson, had built the Tudor-style mansion at the turn of the century, purchased the Stimson Green Mansion—her childhood home—in 1986 and, in 1990, purchased the parking lot as well, fearing that high-rise construction on the parking lot site might physically and visually damage the mansion itself.

Collins sold the parking lot, valued at $2.15 million, to the Seattle Housing Resources Group (SHRG) for $453,000 in 1992; in effect, she provided a $1.6 million land writedown to help make this low-rise, low-income project feasible. Her objective was to preserve and enhance the integrity of the mansion and its surrounding environment and to make a positive contribution to the community.

SHRG is a nonprofit housing group sponsored by the Downtown Seattle Association; it has created or assisted in creating 1,665 units of low income housing since its founding in 1980. Today, SHRG manages 1,107 housing units in 20 downtown locations and in other Seattle neighborhoods.

In addition to the initial land write-down provided by Patricia Collins, the Washington State Affordable Housing Program provided to SHRG a low-interest loan in the amount of $453,000 to purchase the land; and the Washington State Housing Finance Commission provided low-income housing tax credits. Seattle-based retailer Nordstrom purchased the tax credits by contributing $4.7 million in equity to the project. The return to the tax credit investor is 17.6 percent, after taxes. The cash-on-cash return on the balance of the cost is 14 percent.

Two Seattle banks provided bridge and long-term financing—Key Bank with an $800,000 bridge loan and Washington Mutual with $2.95 million in long-term financing.

Planning for Cascade Court began in June 1992, although the site was not actually conveyed until November 1992. Construction started shortly thereafter, in March 1993; and leasing started a year later. The project was rented by May 1994.

PLANNING AND DESIGN

In deference to the scale of the mansion next door, the architects produced a U-shaped plan that begins with three-story townhouses and flats adjacent to the mansion and then steps up to five-story flats at the other end of the site. A landscaped, south-facing common courtyard in the middle of the "U" contains a children's play structure near the townhouse units, where the larger family units are located.

The three-story townhouses/flats are accessed directly from the courtyard, and the five-story flats are accessed via elevators off a central lobby near the Summit Avenue entrance. The resident manager's office is located adjacent to the lobby. Considerable attention has been paid to security. The main entry on Summit Avenue is gated and in full view of the resident manager's office, as is the entrance off Seneca.

A patterned-brick base, pitched roofs, and gabled dormers echo the single family architecture of the neighborhood in an earlier era, as typified by the mansion. Inexpensive Dryvit coats the upper floors and mirrors the stucco on the mansion. A lively and variable set of facades on Summit Avenue pops in and out, up and down, providing an interesting and inviting streetscape image.

Because a diversity of unit types was a primary requirement, the architects produced a design with 39 studios, 35 one-bedroom units, 14 two-bedroom units, and 12 three-bedroom units. Two-level, underground parking for 138 cars was also provided, although only about 60 percent of the tenants have cars. The parking requirement added approximately $10,000 per unit to the cost of the project.

While some of the larger units contain a washer and dryer, a laundry area is provided on the first floor of the five-story section. The building was designed and constructed under the Seattle City Light Good Cents Program to provide maximum energy efficiency.

LEASING AND MANAGEMENT

When the project opened in March 1994, lease-up was at a rate of 17 units per week. Cascade Court Apartments currently sports an occupancy rate of 95 percent, and its annual turnover rate-approximately 30 percent-is lower than market-rate units elsewhere in Seattle. Turnover generally has been due to relocation, a change in household patterns, or a home purchase.

The rents are targeted toward individuals and families earning between 45 and 60 percent of the median income in Seattle-or jobs earning between approximately $6 and $9 per hour; rents range from $350 to $675 per month. Parking is included in the rent, and tenants deduct $40 per month if they do not have a car. Market rents for comparable market-rate units would range from $500 per month for studios to $700 to $900 per month for two-bedroom units.

EXPERIENCE GAINED

In previous projects the developer has had to secure equity commitments from several sponsors and investors; finding these investors and sorting out their investment positions takes time, lengthening the development process. Because this project had, other than the developer, only one major investor-Nordstrom-which entered the development process early, the developer was able to compress the development cycle. In addition, a sympathetic seller of the site helped to speed the progress of the project.

The developer believes that the ideal size for projects of this type is somewhere between 50 and 150 units. With 50 units, the developer can afford to have a full-time resident manager; with a project larger than 150 units, the developer believes that the resident manager would have trouble maintaining firsthand relationships with every tenant.

In a project that attracts families with children, the design should anticipate and minimize possible maintenance problems. At Cascade Court Apartments, it is nearly impossible to keep the planters filled with bedding plants because the children use the planters as an extension of their play space, in addition to the play structures. PROJECT DATA

LAND USE INFORMATION

Site Area: 0.66 acres Total Dwelling Units: 100 Gross Density: 151.5 units per acre Off-Street Parking Spaces: 138

LAND USE PLAN Percent of Acres Site

Buildings 0.36 54.5

Common Open 0.30 45.5 Space

Total 0.66 100.0

RESIDENTIAL UNIT INFORMATION Unit Size Unit Type Number of Units Range of Rents (Square Feet)

Studio 394-459 39 $350-450

1 Bedroom 511-605 35 $390-500

2 Bedroom 747-790 14 $460-575

3 Bedroom 1,057-1,333 12 $525-675

ANNUAL OPERATING EXPENSES Taxes $66,527

Insurance 8,400

Services, Maintenance, Janitorial 96,099

Utilities 42,900

Management 36,527

Total $250,453

DEVELOPMENT COST INFORMATION

Site Acquisition Cost $462,140

Site Improvement Costs Excavation/grading $ 33,513

Sewer/water/drainage 78,523

Paving/curbs/sidewalk 6,092

Total $118,128

Construction Costs Superstructure $5,117,022

Fees/general conditions 77,518

Appliances/furnishings 572,466

Miscellaneous 28,558

Total $5,795,564

Soft Costs Architecture/engineering $179,588

Project management 105,610

Marketing 7,500

Legal/accounting 32,124

Taxes/insurance 30,066

Title fees 3,425

Construction interest/fees 115,152

WSHFC fee/development fee 211,671

Total $685,136

Total Development Cost: $7,060,968

DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE

Planning Started: June 1992 Site Purchased: November 1992 Construction Started: March 1993 Rent-Up Started: March 1994 Rent-Up Completed: May 1994

DIRECTIONS

From Seattle-Tacoma International Airport: Take Interstate 5 north to Olive Way (Exit 166). Go right on Bellevue Avenue to Pine Street. Turn left on Pine to Summit Avenue. Go right on Summit Avenue. The address is 1201 Summit Avenue.

Driving Time: 25 minutes in non-peak-hour traffic.

The Project Reference File is intended as a resource tool for use by the subscribers in improving the quality of future projects. Data contained herein were made available by the Development team and constitute a report on, not an endorsement of, the project by ULI - The Urban Land Institute.