New Construction to Begin in Wallingford this Spring

Construction to start this spring on 150-unit apartment in Wallingford

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NK Architects rendering

Mack Urban plans to start building this 150-unit apartment project in April in Seattle’s Wallingford area, the company said Tuesday. The project is at 1321 N. 45th St., three blocks west of Wallingford’s commercial core.

Marc Stiles

Staff Writer-Puget Sound Business Journal

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Officials at Seattle real estate developer Mack Urban said Tuesday they will start building a large apartment and retail project in the Wallingford area of Seattle in April.

The 150-unit project joins a growing list of big apartment and office projects in the Wallingford/Greenlake area. There are nearly 3,700 apartment units in this submarket currently, but over the next two years developers plan to add 2,360 more, according to Dupre + Scott, a Seattle company that tracks the multifamily housing market.

The Mack Urban project is at 1321 N. 45th St., three blocks west of the heart of the Wallingford business district. The company hopes to capitalize on the character of the neighborhood, which has locally owned shops and restaurants. “We are excited to create new homes in the midst of this beloved community,” Mack Urban Managing Director Jim Atkins said in a statement.

Only about 1.7 percent of the apartments in Wallingford/Greenlake are vacant, and average rents rose 14 percent over the past two years, according to Dupre + Scott. At the end of 2013, the average apartment rent was $2.04 per square foot.

Mack Urban’s is a market-rate project with high-end finishes. Rents have not yet been set.

Demand for apartments in Wallingford is expected to remain high, due in large part toAmazon.com’s aggressive expansion plans in nearby downtown Seattle, where the company is projected to have around 8.5 million square feet of office space. That would be enough room for roughly 40,000 employees.

In addition, Wallingford is near the University of Washington’s main campus, where around 43,750 students are enrolled, and the Fremont area, where Google and Tableau Softwarehave offices. Tableau plans to expand in Fremont.

Mack Urban’s four-story project will have studio, one- and two-bedroom units, 152 stalls of underground parking and three retails spaces around a patio.

Exxel Pacific is the general contractor on the project, which is scheduled to be completed in July 2015.

Marc Stiles covers commercial real estate and government for the Puget Sound Business Journal.