December 15, 2025

Spokane Tribe pays over $45M for Burien apartments, to become affordable housing

Photos via Institutional Property Advisors [enlarge]

IPA’s listing confirms that this is the first sale for Cambridge Square, which dates back to 1968.

In its first trade since the Burien apartments were constructed in 1968, Cambridge Square sold last week for a bit over $45.1 million, according to King County records.

The seller at 455 S. 156th St. was the Henry H. Ketcham Lumber Co., plus a few related family LLCs. Ketcham looks to have been the original developer, perhaps then partnering with a builder.

The buyer was the housing authority of the Spokane Tribe. Public records indicate a $37.5 million Fannie Mae loan, sourced via M&T Realty Capital.

The brokers, apparently on both sides of the deal, were Institutional Property Advisors' Giovanni Napoli, Philip Assouad, Ryan Harmon, Nick Ruggiero and Anthony Palladino. The sale was worth about $224,627 per unit.

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The apartments were designed with a very pronounced Tudor-revival style.

Also recorded last week was an agreement with Post Investment Group of California, which will operate the apartments as affordable housing. Post holds the master lease from the tribe, and is the borrower of record from Fannie Mae. For a 10-year term, units are to be affordable to households earning up to 80% of area median income. Post seems to be new to our market. It doesn't detail its portfolio, and has multiple investment arms — real estate among them.

The tribe did a very similar deal in September, when it then paid $23 million for the 108-unit Swiss Gables in Kent. Those are also to remain affordable.

Cambridge Square is on the northwest shoulder of the airport, just east of downtown Burien, and walkable to a PCC. It's near Highline High School and Moshier Park.

The apartments were designed with a very pronounced Tudor-revival style. The 20-building low-rise complex has 201 units, plus two pools, a clubhouse and some 250 surface parking stalls. TAM Residential is the current property manager. Units are large, averaging around 930 square feet, and run from one- to three-bedrooms. The listing notes that, “Long-term private ownership has diligently maintained the property. The attentive approach to property operations has led to high retention” of tenants.

The Ketcham family has deep roots in the timber trade. Henry “Hank” Holman Ketcham was a football star at Yale, who later served in World War I, then became a lumber broker in Seattle during the early '20s. Three sons established West Fraser Timber (in British Columbia) and ran or started other businesses.

H.H. Ketcham Lumber Co. is still a going entity today, though mainly as an investor. It has sold a few industrial properties in recent years.