May 21, 2020

Weinstein designing affordable housing, youth services complex on Capitol Hill

Photo from Seattle Municipal Archives [enlarge]

The nonprofit YouthCare plans to preserve the Booth Building, shown here in 1937, as part of a redevelopment at Broadway and Pine.

YouthCare and Capitol Hill Housing have long been planning to redevelop the corner at 1534 Broadway. Now Weinstein A+U has joined the team and filed the early plan with the city of Seattle.

The project hasn't yet entered design review, which will be administrative only. Barrientos Ryan is acting as YouthCare's owner's rep.

On the north side of the block, along East Pine Street, the Booth Building and the 909 E. Pine building will be preserved. They've been submitted for landmarking, but the April 1 Landmarks Preservation Board vote was canceled owing to the coronavirus pandemic. At this point, that's a formality. Under Weinstein's plan, both the century-old structures will be renovated and preserved for offices and services by the nonprofit YouthCare.

Behind those two structures to the south, where there's now a parking lot, there will be a new eight-story building with about 100 units of low-income housing. It'll be operated by CHH, which is developing the project.

No parking is required or included. Weinstein estimates that YouthCare's space will total about 30,000 square feet, with the housing occupying about 55,000 square feet. Residents will enter from Broadway. Rents will be based on a sliding scale of 30% to 60% of area median income.

The site totals 15,360 square feet. The previously state-owned property, partly leased to Seattle Central College as the South Annex, was conveyed in February to the new owners for a previously agreed $9 million. That included a $2.5 million loan from the state.

Other public funding sources will be employed for the project, along with the federal low-income tax credit program (LIHTC). King County has committed $6.5 million, along with $1.5 million from the city of Seattle.

The overall budget hasn't been announced. Weinstein's estimate is $26 million.

The three-story Booth Building dates to 1906, and has been home to the Cornish School of Music and the Allen Tire & Rubber Co. The two-story 909 E. Pine building dates to 1919; it was also once part of Auto Row. How YouthCare and CHH apportion or link the three structures, old and new, remains to be seen in design review.

YouthCare was founded in 1974 to serve homeless teens and runaways. Its website says that 1534 Broadway will be “an employment and education academy. The academy will welcome more than 350 students annually and focus on the development of both personal leadership and career-discovery curriculum, as well as supporting sector-based learning opportunities that ensure that young people moving beyond homelessness have the skills and confidence to achieve long-term stability.”

Barrientos Ryan says on its website that the YouthCare Academy classrooms will be concentrated within the Booth Building. It says the housing will be on the top six floors of the new CHH building. Completion is targeted for early 2023.

YouthCare says that at least some of the CHH project “will house formerly homeless transitional aged youth.”

Meanwhile, west across Broadway, CHH and Environmental Works will integrate the old Atlas and Eldridge Tire Co. buildings into a planned eight-story, 122-unit affordable housing project for LGBTQ seniors. That project is in design review. CHH still needs to acquire the property from Seattle Central College.