News Release
For immediate release
For more information contact:
King County Housing Authority
media@kcha.org
600 Andover Park W
Tukwila, WA 98188
New Rental Housing Opens at Greenbridge
88 housing units completed, commercial space begins lease-up; Residents coming home to new apartments
Oct.
8,
2009
— White Center
Families have finished moving into 88 colorful, energy-efficient new townhomes and apartments in Salmon Creek, the fourth phase of rental construction to be completed at Greenbridge, the 96-acre master-planned community being developed by the King County Housing Authority.
The Salmon Creek development is located on two separate parcels: one anchors the east corner of Roxbury Street and Eighth Avenue Southwest, the other sits just north of the White Center Heights Elementary School. Both blocks also host retail spaces. A coffee shop, Dubsea Coffee, is slated to open on the Eighth Avenue plaza in November.
Greenbridge is a phoenix that has arisen from the now demolished former public housing complex called Park Lake Homes. Nearly 60 percent of the units at Greenbridge are occupied by former Park Lake Homes 1 residents or by residents at the nearby Park Lake Homes 2, which is currently undergoing redevelopment.
Nafisa Abdulle moved into her new two-bedroom townhome a few weeks ago, and she is delighted. Abdulle and her family – a son and a daughter, lived at Park Lake 1 before it was redeveloped into Greenbridge and relocated to Park Lake 2 while she was awaiting her turn to return to Greenbridge. Abdulle, who now works part-time at the YWCA facility on Eighth Avenue — Greenbridge’s “Main Street” — is particularly enthusiastic about the amenities in her new home.
“I like my new place very much because it has a bath and a half and a washer and dryer,” she said. Abdulle also likes the diversity and feeling of safety at Greenbridge, where she leads her Somalian neighbors at monthly community meetings.
Located just a few blocks from White Center’s commercial core, Greenbridge ultimately will provide 468 units of affordable rental housing and more than 400 for-sale homes for a mix of households with very-low to moderate incomes. The development includes the White Center Heights Elementary School, a community center run by Neighborhood House and the Southwest Boys & Girls Club, a YWCA Adult Learning Center, a King County branch library, and an extensive park and trail system. The award-winning project has been certified as Three-Star Built Green™ by the Master Builders of King and Snohomish Counties and features a number of creative approaches to environmental sustainability, including biofiltration swales and narrower road widths to reduce water runoff and calm traffic.
The Salmon Creek rental housing was designed by GGLO Architects and built by Synergy Construction, Inc.
KCHA administers a range of quality affordable rental and homeownership programs for residents of King County. The Authority serves more than 18,000 families, elderly and disabled households on a daily basis.