Plans for Acer Home, Seattle’s ‘first actually anti-racist non-public sector improvement,’ rising within the Central District

Early design concept for the bulk of the project

Legislation that allows rededication of the corner of 23rd and Cherry could allow a five-story mixed-use building to be built on the corner, connecting a wave of redevelopment across the 23rd Ave corridor through the Central District, which is already important new developments have taken place 23rd and Union and 23rd and Jackson.

However, the project’s developers say the surgical zone would add more than one additional story of height to the corner across from that Garfield Community Center and the Garfield High School Campus. Acer HouseThey say this may be an example of another recipe for just development that goes beyond reliance on public funds.

“We believe in the power of living” Ben Maritzsays the Capitol Hill developer of affordable housing behind the project.

Acer House, Maritz said, could be “the first truly anti-racist private sector development here in Seattle”.

To make that happen, Maritz said the project will be developed under community-centric standards, including a commitment to ensure a female or minority owned company is included in every final procurement round and a non-displacement commitment. The project would join lots, including one that was left empty after a previously mothballed development demolished an old church and the retail building on the corner where the apartment is currently located Flowers only 4 U..

Maritz said that Kateesha Atterberry and the Urban Black The commercial property management firm will be part of the development team with the goal of helping the neighborhood flower shop survive the redevelopment and return to the corner as part of the new project.

CHS reported here about the support of the community that helps raise Flowers Just 4 U and the owner Mary Wesley when the longstanding Central District business of 23. and Jackson was ousted for new development there. In black possession Catfish corner has announced plans to open in the building now rising on the 23rd and Jackson.

The Acer House project is also planned with commercial space for a 5,000-square-foot childcare facility, Maritz said.

As part of the agreements to purchase the properties in the development, Martiz said that equity will be offered to the existing landowners for the project.

Acer House’s design will focus on the community, says Maritz. The architects of the project are Capitol Hill’s Schemas workshop and Donald King, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Washington, Design of the building according to the community principles inspired by Afrofuturism:

Afrofuturism as applied to architecture is an expression of shape, color and material design at the interface of the traditional aesthetics of the African diaspora and modernity. The term “Afrofuturism” was coined by Mark Dery in 1993, but it came about in the minds of enslaved Africans and in the lives of their descendants. The first Afrofuturists envisioned a society devoid of the physical and social ties of oppression. It is not compared as nominally like “modernism”, Afrofuturism is the larger movement that architecture is involved in. Afrofuturistic architectural works contribute to the shifting of the projected future in their programming and narrative and not just in form or ornament.

“Afrofuturist architecture has the power to revive Afrocentric communities and their view of the future,” wrote the developers of Acer House in their early draft proposal. “It also has the power to change the Western perception of the African presence in the planned future. Afrofuturism can be defined as a broader vision for both the local and global future. “

Those who will live there are planning the affordable on-site housing project under the City Housing Affordability and Multi-Family Tax-Exempt Housing Program, with the goal of reserving 30% of the housing units for low-income residents. According to a presentation by the developer, the building mix will include a mix of “efficient” 400-square-meter studios and larger family units.

To get there, Acer House needs to gain an extra floor from the Seattle City Council. Legislation for the zone is starting its way through City Hall after being broadcast last month. The city’s design review process will also begin shortly with community feedback, dealing first with elements of crowd and context and later with the intricacies of Afro-futuristic design and colors. There will also be a number of community meetings, as well as feedback and contact opportunities, according to Maritz, including a session with those in influence later this month Committee for the review of land use in the central area Community group.

Maritz is confident that the vision for Acer House will be well received and can be a useful template for another way to create new Central District apartments that are faster and more likely to be repeatable in the neighborhood and around town.

“You can have a for-profit project that has community benefit, below market rents and a positive return on investment, and scale it up,” said Maritz.

You can find out more at acer.house.

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