Northgate Apartments

Seattle, WA

The arrival of Link light rail to Northgate has created an opportunity to reconsider the car-oriented land use patterns of the area. The office campus south of the former mall consists of a loop drive which serves large parcels currently developed with surface parking lots and office buildings. There are no sidewalks.

Northgate Apartments is a proposed 302-unit mixed-use project located in the heart of the campus a short distance from the light rail station. The mid-block parcel fronts two streets with different characters and the building responds to each accordingly, establishing a retail presence along the busier street, 3rd Avenue, and a townhouse residential presence along the quieter street, 4th Avenue.

The goal was to create a building with generous apartments and a higher than typical percentage of 2-bedroom units with accommodations for gracious amenities and a small grocer that would serve both residents and the neighborhood.

The project is conceived as a courtyard building with re-entrant corners at the northwest and southeast that create opportunities for 2-bedroom units on the upper floors and entry plazas at grade. The building is set back from the property lines with units facing landscaped side yards. A generous courtyard is split into two levels providing a landscaped tier with private patios that spill onto a common garden and a more active pool deck surrounded by building amenities.

The campus has remained unchanged for fifty years, and this project is its first redevelopment. Its location, a block from the Northgate Light Rail Station, offers a direct opportunity to begin redefining a car-oriented campus into transit-oriented neighborhood, serving as a model for future redevelopment.

Renderings: Feature Graphics

Client
Lake Union Partners

Data
368,000-sf total
302 residential units
4,200-sf retail
226 parking stalls

1,200-sf outdoor swimming pool Indoor spa, cold plunge, hot tub, sauna, steam room

Completed
Est. 2028

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