Kent to get 288-unit apartment complex along West Meeker Street

A California developer plans to build an 288-unit apartment complex along West Meeker Street in Kent.

The project is scheduled to be built where the now-closed Monte Carlo Pub, 1617 W. Meeker St., and the parcel just west of the bar with an abandoned store now sit, according to Imad Bahbah, principal architect at IHB Architects in Kent, which is working on the complex.

“We’re designing a high-rise building with 288 modular units,” Bahbah said during a December interview about the planned eight-story project that could begin construction in the first quarter of this year.

The modular units will be built elsewhere and trucked to the site. The plan includes studio, one bedroom and two bedroom units with lots of amenities at market-rate rental prices. It will feature up to three levels of parking with 288 stalls. Commercial space will be available on the ground level.

“The concept’s been around a while, but it’s the first modular in Kent,” Bahbah said.

Pinnacle LGS, based in Los Angeles, builds the modular apartment units. Pinnacle MOD Seattle LLC is the developer, so the manufacturer is the developer.

“The modular projects are made out of steel, metal construction and fully finished inside with the drywall, flooring and appliances,” Bahbah said about the units. “They are put in place like Lego blocks.”

Bahbah said the units are low maintenance and feature durable finishes.

“It costs less because they are manufactured, not field built,” he said. “It makes the schedule quicker for construction, about 30% faster, and then you can start leasing them up.”

The apartments along West Meeker are scheduled to be called the Beverly Residences of Kent.

A couple of large apartment complexes already have been built along West Meeker Street, west of Washington Avenue and east of Kent Des Moines Road. The Ethos Apartments started to go up in 2019 across from the 18-hole Riverbend Golf Complex and the Midtown 64 Apartments opened in 2020 across from the Monte Carlo Pub.

On the other side of Meeker Street, across Washington Avenue and east of Highway 167, the Madison Plaza Apartments opened in 2022 at the corner of Meeker and Madison, and the Ovation at Meeker senior living apartments opened in the past year at 623 W. Meeker St.

“There’s a statewide housing shortage,” Bahbah said about the apartment boom in Kent and elsewhere. “The outlying submarket from Seattle is easier to get permitted, rents a little bit lower so there’s better absorption. “Seattle is expensive so the Kent, Des Moines and Renton area is booming in housing.”

The developer bought the properties from the Monte Carlo Pub owner and the property owner of the parcel just west of the pub.

Highline Place apartments

Bahbah’s firm also is working on a second phase of apartments at Highline Place, along Pacific Highway South in Des Moines near Highline College and across from where the new Kent Des Moines light rail station is going up.

Highline Place I is completed with 160 units for students. Highline Place II will be built right behind the current structure, Bahbah said. It will be L-shaped to wrap around the first structure and feature about 228 units.

“The developer has been waiting until interest rates change a little, so it will probably start in late 2024,” Bahbah said.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated that the complex will have market-rate rental prices and that the developer bought the properties from two private owners.

COURTESY GRAPHIC, IHB Architects A rendering of the modular apartments planned for West Meeker Street.

A rendering of phase II of the Highline Place apartments in Des Moines along Pacific Highway South near Highline College. COURTESY GRAPHIC, IHB Architects