Mt. Baker Housing Is Finalist For National Award
Mt. Baker Village has been recognized as a finalist for Affordable Housing Finance Magazine's 2019 Readers’ Choice Awards in the preservation category for its creative financing, renovations and new construction elements. Mt. Baker Housing renovated the existing four-story, seven-building Mt. Baker Village Apartments into a modern, transit-oriented development two blocks from Seattle’s Mt. Baker station.
The development has 156 one-, two- and four-bedroom apartment homes that are priced at affordable housing rates for those at 30% to 60% of area median income. The redesign included upgrades to the community kitchen and entertainment rooms and gathering lounge.
“Being acknowledged on a national scale for our efforts is a tremendous honor,” Mt. Baker Housing Executive Director Mike Rooney said. “This project’s broad scope and unique financing, along with the tenant coordination involved, make it likely one of the most complex projects we’ll ever complete.”
This project is the company’s namesake property. Mt. Baker Housing began as a community redevelopment project focused on the Mt. Baker Village Apartments, which had been poorly maintained, leaving hundreds of refugee families in unsafe conditions. The company now has seven low-income/affordable housing properties that it owns and operates.
“Mt. Baker Village is our namesake — it was the project for which the local community created Mt. Baker Housing thirty years ago,” Rooney said in a statement. “We are proud of the legacy of Mt. Baker Village, in particular that it is home to an important segment of Seattle’s Southeast Asian community. We are very happy that with the completion of this project, we’re able to contribute to keeping intact a very special and important Seattle community."
