Garden apartments · Washington
Rainier Vista
Built mixed-income housing project adjacent to transit; no current development opportunity. · summary, model-written
Solid = from the authors' map · outlined = public source · dashed = model-written, not yet reviewed by a person. Tap any value's source label to see where it came from. documented = a quoted excerpt (click to read it) · reported = a source named, no excerpt yet · no source.
Site profile7 elements · what this retrofit is built with · tap a chip for the evidence
3+ other atlas sites within 10 km
This site: 5 within 10 km computed · all sites with this30,000+ vehicles a day on an adjacent road
This site: 205,494 on I-5 fhwa-hpms · all sites with thisCounty permitting 2,000+ apartment units a year
This site: 7,119 units, King County census-bps · all sites with thisCounty typical rent $2,000+
This site: $2,323/mo zillow · all sites with thisInterstate or freeway within 600 m
This site: I-5 fhwa-hpms · all sites with thisRedeveloped
This site: 895 households in a walkable mixed-income community with new community parks and gardens, pedestrian scaled streetscapes, and community services all adjacent… record · all sites with thisHousing
This site: …new_use field newtypes-extraction · all sites with thisNow
| Status | Retrofit builtWikipedia no source |
|---|---|
| Strategy | RedevelopedWikipedia no source |
| New uses | housingWikipedia no source |
| What is there now | 895 households in a walkable mixed-income community with new community parks and gardens, pedestrian scaled streetscapes, and community services all adjacent to the Link stationnewtypes-extraction reported |
Site context
| Housing permits, King County (WA), 2024 | 7,119 units in 5+ unit buildings, 1,093 in 2–4, 2,352 single-family; 2023: 7,274 in 5+Census BPS |
|---|---|
| Other atlas sites nearby | 5 within 10 km, 21 within 25 km: South Lake Union (0.0 km); Gas Station on 15th Avenue West (0.0 km); Mini Mart City Park (0.5 km); Rainier Square (0.7 km); Westlake Mall (1.0 km)computed |
| Retail trade in the county, 2025 (BLS QCEW) | 102,448 jobs in 5,725 establishments; average annual pay $60,273; employment location quotient 0.72; employment -1.1% on the yearBLS QCEW 2025, NAICS 44-45, private |
| Jobs located in the tract, 2022 | 60,876 jobs; 838 in retail trade, 2,354 in accommodation and food (workplace blocks summed to tract 53033008102)Census LEHD LODES8 WAC 2022 |
| Upward mobility (Opportunity Atlas, 2010 tract) | children of low-income (25th percentile) families reached the 36th income percentile as adults; 3.1% incarcerated at the 2010 count (49 children in the sample); born 1978–83, measured 2014–15Opportunity Insights |
| Food access (USDA FARA 2019, 2010 tract) | not a low-access tract at 1 mile; poverty rate 25.5%; median family income $138,281; 386 SNAP householdsUSDA ERS |
| Schools | Seattle Public Schools (PK-12); 4 public schools within 1 mile: Summit Public School: Sierra; Bailey Gatzert Elementary School; Middle College High School; Interagency Detention SchoolNCES EDGE |
| Elevation | 134 ft above sea level at the site pointUSGS 3DEP |
| Storm events in the county, 2016-2025 | 8 county-logged events: 6 heavy rain, 1 debris flow, 1 flood; $34,994,000 property damage reported; 1 direct deaths; forecast-zone events (most flood, winter and heat) not countedNOAA Storm Events |
| Homes for sale in ZIP 98104, 2026-09 | median list price $497,000 (-0.6% on the year); 59 active listings; median 50 days on market; 11% with a price cutRealtor.com Research |
| Retail trade in the county, 2012 to 2023 | 5,912 establishments (-10%); 104,570 jobs (+8%)Census CBP |
| Housing market in the county | typical home value $824,870 (-2% 1 yr, +7% 5 yr); typical rent $2,323/mo (+2% 1 yr), 2026-09Zillow Research |
| Traffic on the busiest road within 600 m (2024) | 205,494 vehicles a day on I-5 (Interstate, 11 lanes); 9,952 trucks; 37 counted segmentsFHWA HPMS |
Summary, model-written
Rainier Vista was redeveloped from low-income garden apartments into a built mixed-income housing community (895 households) with parks, pedestrian streetscapes, and Link station access. It is confirmed built and operational.
Why. No current development opportunity: retrofit already built (opp_score 0.0). Nearby peers include South Lake Union (0km, built) and Mini Mart City Park (0km, built).
Where it stands. Market context: Seattle King County median rent $2,323 (Zillow, 2026-09), 14.6% 5-year rent growth. County population grew 4.6% (2018–23). No current vacant parcels or pending deals noted.
For a planner
- Mixed-income housing model with transit access established.
- Adjacent to existing built projects (South Lake Union, Mini Mart City Park).
For a developer
- No active opportunity: retrofit complete.
- Market shows rent growth but no vacant land or pending permits for new build at this site.
What we do not know yet
- No parcel data or deal history provided.
- County population growth rate not tied to site-specific demand.
Generated by qwen3-30b-a3b-64k:latest on Dell 5820 RTX 3090 (Ollama, qwen3-30b-a3b) from the fields, parcels, deals and context layers on this page, with no outside knowledge. It is regenerated when the record changes and has not been checked by a person. How it is made.
Similar sites
- Totem Lake Mall, Kirkland, WA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop; also in WA; 16 km away
- Kirkland Parkplace, Kirkland, WA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop; also in WA; 13 km away
- Longacres, Renton, WA · Other · same strategy: redevelop; also in WA; 17 km away
- Mini Mart City Park, Seattle, WA · Gas stations · same strategy: redevelop; also in WA; 0 km away
Elsewhere on the web
Search images: Google · Bing · Commons · references: ULI case studies · Google Scholar
Multifamily screen
- retrofit already built
- county grew 4.6% 2018–23
- median rent $2,035
- housing in the record
Inputs: record fields (size, status) and county Census ACS 2018–2023 figures (growth, rent). How the points work. Not a recommendation.
History and original facts
| County | King County |
|---|---|
| Census division | 9 · Pacific |
| Notes | Draft from djc.com, model-extracted, unreviewed: Rainier Vista was a 67-acre site with 481 WWII-era low-income homes redeveloped into 895 households of mixed-income housing adjacent to the Link light rail station. |
Not yet recorded: acres, GLA, year opened, original developer, retrofit year. Know it? Tell us.
Sources
- An evolution of transit-oriented development in the Puget Sound
1 quoted sentence
Rainier Vista
More in Washington
Totem Lake MallKirkland, WA · 2015Redeveloped · Regreened · Redevelopment: mixed use, new streets Partial regreening:…12th Place, Building ABellevue, WARedevelopment, proposed · seven-story multi-family residential building508 WestSpokane, WAReinhabited629 WoodlandLacey, WARedeveloped · 49 apartments