BRIDGE Buys Seattle Asset, Plans Affordable Conversion
Amazon funded the acquisition.
BRIDGE Housing has purchased Latitude Apartments, a 108-unit community in the Seattle suburb of Everett, Wash., planning to turn the market-rate property into affordable housing. Amazon’s $3.6 billion Housing Equity Fund supported the $25.4 million acquisition, which equates to $234,722 per unit.
Jackson Square Properties divested the asset in a deal brokered by Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap.
Repositioning market-rate communities into income-restricted properties is the fastest and most effective way to expand housing opportunities in high-cost areas, BRIDGE CEO Ken Lombard said in prepared remarks.
The process for Latitude will span several years as the transition will occur through natural resident turnover. As part of the conversion, which is supported by a long-term regulatory agreement and financing structure, BRIDGE will also invest $4 million in capital improvements.
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The aim is to restrict 60 percent of the units to households earning at or below 50 percent of the area median income, with the remaining apartments set aside for families earning up to 60 percent of AMI. Qualifying current residents may already be eligible for lower rents, effective immediately.
Completed in 1986, Latitude occupies more than 14 acres at 12907 E. Gibson Road, within Everett’s Lake Stickney neighborhood. Interstate 5 runs roughly 1 mile away, connecting to downtown Seattle approximately 23 miles south.
The community comprises six buildings with one- and two-bedroom layouts that range between 659 and 891 square feet. Amenities include a gym, clubhouse and dog park, among other features.
IPA Executive Managing Director Giovanni Napoli, together with Executive Director Philip Assouad and Vice President Ryan Harmon, as well as Associate Nick Ruggiero and Senior Director Anthony Palladino, represented the seller and procured the buyer.
Amazon and BRIDGE’s affordable housing financing deals
This was the second time BRIDGE obtained funds from Amazon’s investment vehicle for Seattle-area deals. The first such purchase closed a year ago, involving the 200-unit Vue Kirkland Apartments and marking the firm’s biggest market-rate-to-affordable conversion up to that point.
BRIDGE also tapped Amazon’s fund for development capital. One such Amazon-backed project is the Spring District, a 234-unit income-restricted property set to come online next year.
