November 17, 2025

Affordable housing on the Montlake Market triangle?

WSDOT photo [enlarge]

With its new Montlake lid done, WSDOT now has some surplus land on its hands. Looking west, the old market site is in the upper left.

Keep your eye on the bare asphalt patch near 2605 22nd Ave. E., directly south of the Montlake ramps to and from state Route 520.

Where a 76 gas station and Montlake Market once stood, that triangle is owned by the Washington State Department of Transportation. With its new Montlake lid done, plus the city's street and sidewalk improvements, the department now has some surplus land on its hands.

Last week, on WSDOT's construction website for the Montlake area, it offered a tantalizing hint about that triangle — previously used for construction staging. Its plan has always been to sell the remaining, reduced portion of the triangle, which now spans perhaps 15,000 square feet. (A new survey still awaits.)

Photo via city of Seattle [enlarge]

The Montlake Boulevard Market property was previously the Hop In Market, and before that a Safeway.

“Now that all major Montlake Project elements are open to the public,” says WSDOT, “state lawmakers are working to make the property available for affordable homeownership. We will know more details about the process and schedule following the end of the legislative session in March 2026.”

We'll have more to report next year. Longtime DJC readers will recall that the property — officially Montlake Boulevard Market, previously the Hop In Market, and once a Safeway — sold via condemnation from the Kemper Freeman family to WSDOT for $16 million.

Neighbors sought to keep the market open, unsuccessfully, and Graham Construction subsequently did the demo and cleanup from the leaky old fuel tanks.

Today, surrounding parcels have NR3 zoning, meaning townhouses would be the most likely future outcome.