Kirkland transit hub to transform neighborhood
Aug 10, 2012, 5:42 AM | Updated: 1:13 pm
A transformation is underway in Kirkland, where a huge Metro park and ride lot will become a new neighborhood, with housing, retail and, of course, easy bus access. (97.3 KIRO FM/Tim Haeck)
(97.3 KIRO FM/Tim Haeck)
A transformation is underway in Kirkland where a huge Metro park and ride lot will become a new neighborhood with housing, retail shops and, of course, easy bus access.
The South Kirkland Park and Ride, with its hundreds of parking slots, is wildly successful as a bus stop.
“Right now, it’s a flat surface lot and it fills up by about 8 o’clock in the morning and it’s not of much use to people anymore,” explains Ann Levine, executive director of Imagine Housing.
The Eastside non-profit agency is among a group of people, organizations and governments that had a bigger and better idea: to maximize the space and create a new transit-oriented neighborhood where Bellevue meets Kirkland and where highway 520 meets I-405.
“We have an increasing amount of traffic congestion in the community and it’s become even more exacerbated by the tolls on 520 and now the congestion to get over to I-90 so you can avoid the tolls,” she explains.
A for-profit organization, Polygon Northwest, will build a new, three-story parking garage, retail space and about 150 market-rate homes. Levine’s organization will build about 58 affordable homes.
Levine thinks these types of mixed-income, transit-based communities are the wave of the future. “We want this to be an exemplary redevelopment effort. We want it to be the model for the community and other transit oriented developments.”
Groundbreaking happens soon for the parking garage to be ready next year and then the housing construction will follow in 2014. There’s really nothing like it in this area, although Imagine Housing did build housing for the homeless in Factoria that’s located near transit.
“It’s going to be even better here at the South Kirkland Park and Ride because you’ll be at a park and ride and right at that critical juncture where 405 hits 520.”
This is one of the most expensive places on the Eastside to rent. It can cost about $1,600 a month for a two-bedroom apartment, according to Levine, so the need for affordable housing is apparent.
The property will remain a transit center and construction of the 532-stall parking garage will mean a net increase of 250 parking slots for the south Kirkland Park and Ride lot.
