LIHI completes work on 22 affordable cottages in Sand Point

The Low Income Housing Institute has announced the completion of a new community of 22 affordable cottage homes at 6343 N.E. 65th St. in Sand Point. A certificate of occupancy was issued for the community, which is called the Sand Point Cottage Community, last week.

LIHI leases the land for the development, which consists of 84,500 square feet in Magnuson Park, from the city of Seattle.

The brand-new cottage homes will serve families with children, seniors, veterans, and people living with disabilities who are all exiting homelessness. A total of 36 residents are expected to make up the community.

Each cottage averages 400 square feet and has one bedroom, a living room, kitchen, bathroom, a loft, and a front porch. Residents will also have access to a community house with a gathering space, community kitchen, computer lab, property management office, bathroom, laundry room, and a spacious porch area. Extensive landscaping, gardens, pathways, and parking complete the design of the Sand Point Cottage Community. Extensive infrastructure work was also required to get the site ready to start welcoming residents.

LIHI is the project developer and will own and operate the new community designed by Karen DeLucas Architecture and built by Buchanan General Contracting. Ground was broken last April. The construction contract was around $5.17 million.

Six of the cottages were built in modules off-site by students in construction trade pre-apprenticeship programs, including the Seattle Skills Center at Ingraham High School, Rogers High School, Tulalip TERO Pre-apprenticeship Program, Marysville Regional Apprenticeship Pathways (RAP) Program, and the Seattle Sand Point Summer Construction Training Program run by LIHI. The plan originally called for students to build all the cottages, but this had to be curtailed due to pandemic restrictions. The community house was donated by the Lucky 7 Foundation.

Funding sources for the project include the Washington State Housing Trust Fund, KeyBank, Enterprise, NeighborWorks America, Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, Community Housing Capital, Lucky 7 Foundation, and other donors.

Sharon Lee, LIHI executive director, said in a press release, “Sand Point Cottage Community is an innovative program to provide attractive cottages in a beautiful park setting. We are thrilled that the State Housing Trust Fund and other funders are supporting permanent affordable housing in Magnuson Park for families, couples, and singles who are exiting homelessness. We appreciate the City of Seattle providing a long-term land lease to make this cottage housing possible.”

LIHI Board vice president Melinda Nichols added, “Sand Point Cottages will demonstrate the value of a village setting and the viability of a green, low impact, nontraditional housing option. LIHI has developed over 700 tiny houses as micro shelters, and building individual cottages with bathrooms and kitchens is a logical next step. We thank the many funders and donors for the vision to make this cottage community a reality.”

The project team also includes Karl Rosman, Swenson Say Faget, structural engineer for the cottages; Nic Rossouw, giraf engineering, structural engineer for the commons building; Interlaken Engineering and Design, PLLC, civil engineering; PanGeo, Inc., geotechnical engineer; and Karen Kiest Landscape Architects, landscape architect.

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