January 2, 2024

Sammamish Town Center, with 348-unit Phase I, continues to grind through process

Renderings by Urbal Architecture [enlarge]

Development will be phased, probably over a decade after groundwork begins.

The long-brewing and very ambitious Sammamish Town Center, which might one day span some 81 acres with mixed-use development and open space, is slowly proceeding through the municipal permit process. An 8-acre component of that, which the city of Sammamish calls the Southwest Quadrant, had its revised permit application accepted last month. The public comment period ends tomorrow.

At and around 22315 S.E. Fourth St., Innovation Realty Partners proposes 348 residential units, including rentals, townhouses for the sales market and senior housing. Also planned is 82,000 square feet for retail, commercial and restaurant use.

The city previously rejected the 2019 plan for the Southwest Quadrant, which is north of City Hall and Lower Sammamish Commons Park. The developer and partners, doing business as STCA LLC, then appealed to the city Hearing Examiner, which in 2021 sent the plan back to the city.

STCA came back with a revised plan one year ago, which the city deemed to be complete last February and, again, last month. There have also been various public meetings and presentations from STCA over the past few years. The city now hopes to review the updated permit application by Jan. 10. STCA's optimistic goal is to begin groundwork this winter, followed by phased construction beginning in the spring.

[enlarge]

Looking southwest from Fourth, the Merrill Gardens building is at left, with the apartments at right. Both would have commercial space.

Master planned by Shook Kelley Architects (of North Carolina), the quadrant is to include 48 townhouses on its quieter west side. To the east would be two six-story apartment buildings, with a central courtyard and pedestrian connector.

East of that, the senior housing looks to be a three- to four-story design. It would be operated Merrill Gardens. All three buildings would total 300 units, with commercial space below. (A few townhouses may also be designated live/work units.) Among the two rental buildings, STCA intends 77 of those units to be affordable. Apartments would run from studios to three-bedrooms.

Parking in the Southwest Quadrant, for shoppers and residents, would have 1,085 stalls. The midrise buildings would have underground parking; townhouses would have garages. Surprisingly, no surface parking is indicated.

The total development area, retail and parking included, would be some 928,000 square feet. That doesn't include the apartments' large central courtyard, or a northward extension of the nearby park. Plans indicate the project would start with the townhouses, then gradually move east over a period possibly extending to 2035.

The team also includes Urbal Architecture, the local firm working with Shook Kelley; Sellen Construction, the builder; Pillar Properties and Benaroya Co., development partners; Berger Partnership, landscape architect; Core Design, civil engineer and surveyor; Transpo Group, traffic consultant; AESI, geotechnical engineer; Wetland Resources, SEPA consultant; EastHUB, arts and culture advisor; Sound Earth, environmental consultant; and Shoffner Consulting, arborist.

In the same quadrant, to the south and closer to the park and City Hall, two more buildings are indicated for future phases. And west of the quadrant's 48 townhouses (aka Brownstones East), STCA is separately planning what it calls Brownstones West, with 28 townhouses and 10 single-family homes.

Beyond the Southwest Quadrant, what might future phases bring? STCA envisions 600,000 square feet of commercial development in all, and perhaps 2,000 housing units in total.

STCA/Innovation isn't the only developer in the town center area. Already completed in recent years are the shops at the Village at Sammamish Town Center; the 92-unit Samm apartments from SeaLevel Properties; and the 159-unit Sky Sammamish from MainStreet Property Group.

Meanwhile, Aegis Living and Wattenbarger Architects are separately planning a four-story, 110-unit assisted living project on the east side of 228th Avenue Southeast. (That's the main north-south arterial that intersects with Fourth at the heart of the town center area.) A new high school and more townhouses are also proceeding separately in the city review process.