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Multifamily housing tour set for June 6

By Elizabeth Rhodes
Seattle Times staff reporter

AIA Nordheim Court provides 146 apartments for UW students.

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Projects ranging from student and senior housing to the condominium conversion of vintage houses will be open to the public June 6, when the American Institute of Architects Seattle Chapter presents its seventh annual multifamily housing tour. Called Housing the Northwest, the tour's aim is to show the best examples of new congregate housing.

Five projects in Seattle and Tacoma will be featured. At least one unit in each will be open to the public between noon and 5 p.m. There is no charge.

According to the two architects who co-chair Housing the Northwest, its aim is to provide the public "with a yearly snapshot of how we as a city and region are doing in terms of addressing housing needs in our growing metropolitan area," said Karen DeLucas and Steve Tatge in a prepared statement.

They hope the featured projects will "serve as models for future development that works for residents and communities, as well as being good architecture."

The five projects are:

• Nordheim Court, 5000 25th Ave. N.E., Seattle. Designed as housing for undergraduate University of Washington students, this 146-unit complex includes walk-up-style brownstones with four-bedroom townhouses over apartments, gathering spaces and a 150-unit parking garage, according to project architect Ron van der Veen of Mithun Architects+Designers+Planners. The project made extensive use of recycled and locally manufactured materials. Walsh Construction is the general contractor. The developer is Lorig Associates.

• Lillian Rice Center & Belltown Senior Apartments, 2208 Second Ave., Seattle. This eight-story building was designed to serve the needs of the Senior Services agency, which occupies the bottom three floors, and independent seniors who live on the floors above. Studio and one-bedroom units share a common room on each residential floor. A rooftop terrace and garden "pea patch" also promote social interaction. The architects are Edward Weinstein and Richard Yancy of Weinstein A/U Architects + Urban Planners. The contractor is Walsh Construction.

• The Yesler Houses Condominiums, 103 to 109 23rd Ave., Seattle. This project turned three historic but well-worn homes into nine two-bedroom condos priced from $220,000 to $279,000. Foundations were replaced and additions were constructed on the back of the houses to provide more living space. Original materials were reused whenever possible to retain the homes' vintage charm. Design architect is John Woodworth of Stickney Murphy Romine. Covenant Housing Association is the owner and developer. Numerous community and financial organizations came together to push the years-old project to fruition.

• Thea's Landing, 1705 Dock St., Tacoma. Located along Tacoma's downtown waterway, this full-block project includes 236 apartments and condominiums, 20,000 square feet of retail space and room for 423 cars. Special care was taken to design a project that would lure visitors to Tacoma's old downtown, provide privacy for the project's residents and fit in with the neighborhood's historic brick buildings. Mithun Architects+Designers+Planners did the architectural work. The developer is Carino Homes, and the builder is Rushforth Construction.

• Press Apartments, 1610 Belmont Ave., Seattle. Located in a commercial and residential section of Capitol Hill, the 75-unit apartment complex "is a story about the imprint of a new style of flexible market-rate housing on an artistic urban neighborhood," according to a statement from GGLO, its architecture firm. Interiors incorporate concrete floors, recycled sunflower seed countertops and rolling chalkboard wall dividers. Bill Gaylord is lead architect. The owner is Harbor/Heath LLC. Compass General Construction is the contractor.

More information is available on AIA Seattle's Web site: www.aiaseattle.org.

Elizabeth Rhodes: erhodes@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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