Beacon Pacific Village is an impressive apartment community. It currently features 160 units – a significant number of them 2-, 3-, and 4-bedroom units – commons rooms, locally-sourced art, and onsite elder and childcare facilities. But this is not just an apartment community. Beacon Pacific Village is the realization of nearly two decades of planning, $120 million in funding from at least a dozen funding sources, and above all the mission to house low-income community members who are at risk of displacement from Seattle’s Chinatown-International District and Beacon Hill neighborhoods.
A project of this scale would not be possible without collaborative funding from a panoply of public funders, including the City of Seattle, King County, WA Department of Commerce, and Washington State Housing Finance Commission, with additional support from Amazon and bank loans.
Additionally, it would not be possible without collaboration between many community stakeholders, led by the Seattle Chinatown-International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda), an organization that prides itself in stewarding Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (CID) to keep the neighborhood accessible to all people, including refugee and immigrants regardless of background.
SCIDpda has been vocal about the necessity to ensure the neighborhood stays intact regardless of broader changes in Seattle. Stated on the SCIDpda website, “Beacon Hill and the CID have been identified by the City as communities that are at high risk of displacement due to increasing development pressures and gentrification”. In response, SCIDpda makes it their mission to provide adequate housing opportunities for families at risk of socio-economic displacement. In order to prioritize those being pushed out, a portion of Beacon Pacific Village’s units are filled using a Community Preference Policy, in which they prefer applicants with historic neighborhood ties to Beacon Hill and the CID. Read more about this practice at the City of Seattle website. Additionally, all units are rent restricted to serve families and individuals earning less than 60% area median income, which is approximately $72,300 per year for a two-person household in Seattle.
In addition to providing affordable housing, the site is also designed to be a service hub for Beacon Pacific Village residents and their neighbors. While the City of Seattle requires mixed-use developments to include commercial space such as local businesses, SCIDpda fought to include spaces for elder care and youth care instead of restaurants of commercial space for businesses. According to SCIDpda, this will provide additional support to allow these families to remain in the communities they have lived in for generations. The childcare facility, operated by El Centro de la Raza, will feature 7 classrooms and partner with the Seattle Preschool Program to ensure access to affordable early learning opportunities for low and moderate income families. The elder care facility, operated by International Community Health Services (ICHS), will offer PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) services, centering community-based wellness that can delay placements in an assisted living facility.
While 20 units were filled by November 7th, SCIDpda expects the property be fully leased by January 2025. Another building on the property, will provide 120 more units in the coming years. Learn more about this and other impactful affordable housing developments on the SCIDPDA website.
