Transit Oriented Development

Transit-Oriented Development, or TOD, is HOT right now. As gasoline prices in Seattle hover near $4 per gallon, many residents are looking for alternate methods of transportation. Living in an urban environment, where it is possible to get to employment using public transportation, walking or biking, is a lifestyle that resonates with many commuters (myself included!).

To have affordable housing in an easy transit location is a bonus, and is what many urban planners are attempting to develop. That is one reason why yesterday's grand opening of the Mt Baker Artists Lofts was such a big celebration.

It is a major reason why my company Van Gogh Studio Lofts LLC decided to purchase land in the transit district around the Rainier Beach Light Rail Station. We will be developing 36-46 units of artists live/work apartments (depending on whether we decide to build up to five floors), in a mixed use commercial development half a block from the station at Martin Luther King Way S and S Henderson St in Seattle. It is scheduled to open in 2016.

Like Mt Baker Artists Lofts, we hired the same architects to design our project. It too will have no parking garage, but will have very similar amenities.

Unlike Mt Baker, Van Gogh Studio Lofts will be market rate rentals, as opposed to subsidized below-market rents. Nevertheless, "market rate" in Rainier Beach is "affordable," as defined by the City of Seattle.

And unlike Mt Baker, Van Gogh Studio Lofts will not screen for artistic quality, only for creative entrepreneurs who are interested in living in a like-minded community of home-based entrepreneurs.

And unlike Mt Baker, Van Gogh Studio Lofts will not reject artist applicants because they - or someone in their household - makes too much income.

Nevertheless, TOD is the way to go, and our proposed Van Gogh Studio Lofts project has caught the attention of neighboring cities. I was invited by the Tacoma Office of Community and Economic Development on Tuesday of this week to tour their TOD opportunities. I brought along architect Scott Starr to join me, and we were both impressed by the variety of commercial development opportunities that the City of Tacoma is considering. Best of all, they understand the important role that artists play in revitalizing and developing neighborhoods. Their permit and development process promises to be faster and less costly than in Seattle, so we are excited about the possibilities there.

Happy Investing!

Seattle Artist Live/Work Development

Van Gogh Development Corporation is purchasing a 10,000 sf parcel near the Rainier Beach Light Rail Station to develop as Artist Housing in a mixed-use, transit-oriented commercial development on South Henderson Street in South Seattle. This transit station is the first stop located in the City of Seattle, on the light rail line coming from SeaTac International Airport. It is also strategically located close to the airports at Boeing Access Field and the Renton Municipal Airport.

The subject site is proposed for development with a four-story 33-unit midrise, mixed use transit oriented apartment complex. The project is planned to have a mix of studio and one-bedroom units on the upper three floors with about 1800 sq ft of ground floor commercial. The subject units are intended to house artists in market rate live/work rental units, with 20% of the 33 units (7 units) targeted as "affordable" units.

Building amenities planned include a community room, common laundry with bike storage and a rooftop deck with seating and landscaped areas.

Rental increases in South Seattle were the second highest (after Everett) in 2013 in the metro Seattle area, and the rental housing market is strong.

The subject parcel is located one-half block from the Rainier Beach Light Rail station, on South Henderson Street. It is near the Chief Sealth power line trail, and close to Rainier Beach High School, Rainier Beach library, and Rainier Beach Community Center. It is located on bus lines for the #8, #106 and is also close to the bus stop with bike lockers at S. Henderson and Martin Luther King Way S.

The near-by business district on Rainier Avenue includes Safeway grocery store, Payless shoe store, Bank of America, and other nearby businesses. Kubota Gardens and Lake Washington are  each located less than one mile from this development site.

Van Gogh Development Corporation has hired SMR Architects to design this project. They were the lead architects for all of the ArtSpace Projects in Washington, including the Tashiro-Kaplan Building, Hiawatha Lofts, Mt. Baker Lofts, as well as the artist live/work renovations at Youngstown Cultural Center in Seattle. Douglas Ito is the lead architect for this project.

Geotech Consultants have been hired to do the geotechnical work on the surface and subsurface soils.

Principals in Van Gogh Development Corporation include O. Thomas Harper and myself. The Corporation was founded in 1994 by O. Thomas Harper. Mr. Harper has spent the past thirty years as a developer, primarily in South Seattle.

I spent over thirty years as a government arts funder, coming to Seattle in 1992 as the Executive Director of the Seattle Arts Commission under Mayor Norm Rice. During my tenure, I organized an artists housing forum which led to the development of ArtSpace projects in Seattle including Hiawatha Lofts and the Tashiro-Kaplan building.

For more information on our development, please contact me at wendy@vangoghdev.com.

Happy Investing!