Mercy Housing Northwest to Build Additional Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing

Sound Transit is selling three-quarters of an acre near the Othello Link light-rail station to Mercy Housing Northwest so the not-for-profit developer can build a mixed-use building with 108 affordable apartments.

The Sound Transit board last week approved the $1.9 million sale. The site is near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and South Myrtle Street. Earlier this year the board picked Mercy as the developer through a competitive public process.

Mercy Othello Plaza will have four levels of housing above 8,000 square feet of commercial and community space, and underground parking for 50 cars. Units will be affordable to families earning up to 60 percent of the area median income, which is $47,640 for a three-person household.

Nearly two-thirds of the apartments will have two or three bedrooms, responding to the city’s request for more affordable units that can accommodate families.

Ankrom Moisan Architects is the designer and Walsh Construction Co. is the general contractor.

Bill Rumpf, president of Mercy Housing Northwest, said the goal is to close on the land sale by year end with loans from Rainier Valley Community Development Fund and Seattle Office of Housing.

Rumpf said Mercy will seek tax credits in February from the Washington State Housing Finance Commission.

Construction is scheduled to start in November 2015 and finish by the end of 2016.

Sound Transit used the land for construction staging while building the light-rail line.