Construction begins on Legacy apartment project
Published 11:24 am Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Island-owned Legacy Partners Residential, Inc., in a joint venture with The Resmark Companies’ Resmark Apartment Living division, announced the start of construction of The Hadley Apartments, a new apartment building community located within Mercer Island’s Town Center.
The project is located on the corner of S.E. 27th Street and 76th Avenue S.E. The Hadley will be the only significant apartment project to start construction on Mercer Island in either 2014 or 2015, the developer said.
The Hadley will feature four stories of wood frame construction over a two-story concrete podium. The project includes 209 luxury open one and two-bedroom apartments, averaging 729 square feet. Some units will feature dramatic views of the Cascade Mountains, nearby Lake Washington and the downtown Bellevue cityscape.
Underground parking for 244 cars will be provided in addition to four commercial spaces totaling 9,200 square feet at ground level.
Working with the city, the developer agreed to set aside 13 units that will be affordable to residents making 70 percent of King County area median income. For example, a single person making $40,140 would qualify under this program for an affordable unit. Rents for these units range from $1,081 for a studio to $1,389 for a two-bedroom. Fifty-six parking spaces were set aside for ‘walk off’ parking — which would allow drivers to park their car for a time while they shop or run errands at nearby businesses.
The site sat vacant and fenced for the past year after The Islander Restaurant and True Value Hardware moved into new locations within the Town Center.
But plans for the project have been underway for four years or more.
According to the King County Assessor’s office, the former Hudesman property, a 32,000-square-foot parcel, sold on Nov. 8, 2011 for $8 million, about 10 percent over its assessed value.
“Mercer Island’s downtown has now reached a critical mass of residents that creates an energized, walkable downtown,” said Legacy’s Senior Managing Director Kerry Nicholson.
The building is named after Homer Hadley, the engineer who first proposed the concept of a floating bridge in 1921. His designs were used in the twin bridges built across Lake Washington.
The westbound lanes of the I-90 bridge were built as a separate bridge in 1989. That bridge was named for Hadley.
A year later, the original I-90 bridge, named for Lacey V. Murrow, sank in a windstorm. It was later rebuilt.
