Spotlight On The West Coast
You may think the West was won by surfer dudes and Hollywood execs, but here’s some evidence of a coast booming thanks to innovative multifamily projects.
LA: A 1,600-foot-long TOD
We’re not kidding. McGregor Co’s gargantuan One Santa Fe, a $130M development that recently topped out (the team includes Canyon-Johnson), stretches for one-third a mile down Santa Fe Avenue in Downtown LA, Bernards operations SVP Dave Cavecche (his firm is GC) tells us. (You'll need a golf cart just to get to the other side of the building.) Delivering this November with 438 rental units (plus 80k SF of retail and some offices), One Santa Fe is being built on a 70-year ground lease with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, next to LA’s Gold Line Eastside Extension and serving as a portal for the Red Line, he says. To make things more meta, architect Michael Maltzen designed the buildings to look like a segmented train from overhead.
SAN FRANCISCO: Communities for the most vulnerable
San Francisco has a good history of creating stunning and functional affordable housing communities, and Mercy Housing just started taking apps for its 150-unit, $75M project (one of the city’s latest) at 1180 4th in Mission Bay. We snapped Kennerly Architecture’s Owen Kennerly, Mercy Housing’s Jennifer Dolin, and Mithun|Solomon’s Dan Solomon on site. Set to deliver in June, the project is unique with 50 units set aside for homeless families, Jennifer says, a rare chance to help them live economically in an up-and-coming neighborhood. Fun facts: the lobby has a framed view of the bay, there’s a giant outdoor movie screen in the courtyard, and there are some ground-floor restaurant spaces already in demand.
SEATTLE: Conquering fears of overbuilding
While the coffee capital of the world’s construction-heavy submarkets will eventually soften (most likely causing concessions rather than long-term rent adjustments), positive job growth is keeping demand for new apartments strong, AvalonBay Communities SVP Brian Fritz (snapped in Vail this week) tells us. Last month, AvalonBay’s plans for about 500 new multifamily units in Esterra Park were green-lighted, with construction slated to begin shortly. In addition to other AvalonBay projects underway in Capital Hill, University District, and Lynnwood, Mack Urban will soon break ground on 150 walkability-focused units near Wallingford Center. (Walk Score, coming soon to dating profiles and background checks.)
