SRM reported today that it has closed a $38 million construction credit for the first of two stages of Nuovo, a multifamily housing project that would add hundreds of additional below-market housing units in downtown Bellevue next to light rail. Due to Microsoft’s Affordable Housing Initiative, the two buildings will not utilize any public funding, and every unit will have below-market rents.
The two buildings are at a 4.55-acre site at 991 118th Ave SE. For residents earning 80%-100% AMI, the project’s first phase will contain a five-story structure with 135 workforce apartments with one or two bedrooms. Washington Trust Bank provided construction finance, and work wil begin later this month. To maintain long-term cheap rents, SRM will hand over the building to a qualified non-profit housing operator after construction is finished.
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Currently under construction is the second phase of the project, 991 East, which will eventually house up to 200 one-, two-, and three-bedroom affordable apartments for rent by people making less than 60% of the area’s median income (AMI).
More on the SRM Development Bellevue Nuovo multifamily project
Along with working with Microsoft’s Affordable Housing Initiative on this project, SRM collaborated late last year with Amazon and the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle to protect 354 apartments spread across six apartment complexes as affordable housing. Without the project financial support provided by Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund and the City of Seattle’s Office of Housing, the $97 million agreement would not be feasible, providing people with low- and moderate incomes with the possibility of long-term affordability.
Privately held SRM is a real estate firm with a focus on affordable, mixed-use development and construction in metropolitan markets in the western United States.”Below-market multifamily developments in such a fantastic location are very uncommon and difficult to implement. As the most expensive property market in Washington, Bellevue is in desperate need of rental properties in this price range. Conor Hansen, principal of SRM’s affordable housing division, stated.