A Seattle-area developer still wants to build a six-to-seven story, mixed-use apartment complex in the Mill Creek neighborhood on the edge of downtown Kent.
But until market conditions improve, developer Robert Slattery said the project remains on hold and no permits have been filed with the city.
While the project delay spells bad news for the developer, Mill Creek residents say they’re ready to celebrate.
“The reaction to it being delayed is great,” said Julie Brown, co-president of the Mill Creek Neighborhood Council, during a phone interview Feb. 11. “We hope it never happens.”
Slattery revealed plans in May to build as many as 170 apartment units on a 1.2-acre site on East Smith Street between Clark and Jason Streets. The complex would be called Station 601.
“Our plans are to move ahead with the project in the next 12 to 24 months,” Slattery said in a phone interview Feb. 8. “We’re still here. We’re still planning on it.”
But financing for the project remains a challenge.
“The big issue is money,” Slattery said. “There is a finite amount of money available.”
Slattery said small developers such as his company, as well as big developers, are finding it tough to get loans to back their projects.
The drop in apartment-rental rates over the past year also makes it a bad time to build an apartment complex.
“It’s not a strong market for rental housing but that will come back,” Slattery said. “It’s a real buyer’s market. I think between April and June we will go through another lull in the housing market and that’s a good thing for rentals.”
The delay of the Station 601 project didn’t surprise Ben Wolters, city economic and development director.
“His (Slattery’s) challenge is to get financing,” Wolters said Feb. 11. “It’s totally understandable and occurring throughout the industry, given the recession and ongoing financial crisis.”
Wolters said he remained uncertain whether the proposed apartment complex would ever get built.
“Obviously, it remains to be seen,” Wolters said. “It’s dependent upon if the developer is able to line up financing for the project that can be economical.”
Many Mill Creek neighborhood residents are pleased the apartment project has been delayed.
The residents delivered a petition against the proposed apartment complex to Kent city officials last summer. Nearly 50 signed the petition, because of the negative impact they believe such a large complex could have on their neighborhood.
Several neighbors said at a meeting last year that they object to such a large apartment complex next to their single-family homes because it could block views and sunlight, as well as increase traffic.
Other residents voiced concerns about the proposed complex going up on the eastern edge of the Downtown Commercial Enterprise zone rather than near the downtown core, such as closer to the Kent Station shopping mall. The Downtown Commercial Enterprise zone allows mixed-use residential with no height restrictions.
“We are being proactive and finding ways to preserve our neighborhood and protect houses impacted by that,” Brown said. “We’ve had discussions with the city about the no height-restriction.”
Mill Creek residents met with City Planning Director Fred Satterstrom Feb. 10 to discuss potential zoning changes to limit the height of new buildings.
“With no height restriction in a residential zone that can be problematic,” Brown said. “We are discussing (with the city) how we can resolve that.”
Satterstrom said Feb. 11 that city staff will look at the option of lowering the height limit for buildings constructed next to single-family homes.
“From a practical matter with the types of soil and the market, we’ll not have a 50-story tower,” Satterstrom said. “At the most, we’re looking at five to nine stories. Nevertheless, that’s a considerable height when you look at the existing development and it is pretty tall when it abuts a single-family home.”
Satterstrom said any proposed zoning changes, including a height restriction, could go before the City Council for consideration as early as April.
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