A five-to-seven-story upscale apartment complex with first-floor retail might be built in the next couple of years in Kent, where the city-owned Riverbend Golf Complex par 3 course now sits.
“A mixed-use, multifamily project probably makes the most sense for this site,” said Matt Kemper, a vice president of capital markets for Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a commercial real estate services firm hired by the city to help sell the property.
Kemper updated the City Council at its Tuesday workshop about the potential high-density use for the land.
“When you look at (apartment) projects that are starting to be built (in Kent) like The Platform, it really speaks to the type of product that can be built,” Kemper said. “Kent was historically more of a garden-court type of product, a three-story (complex) with very low density where you’re looking at 20 units an acre as opposed to 45-50 units an acre.”
City staff hopes to present a development agreement and purchase sale proposal by July to the City Council for approval. Starting in January, the city will seek applications from developers who want to build on the 18.5-acre site.
City staff will narrow that list in March and pick a best proposal in May before hammering out an agreement with a developer.
The city wants to sell the property to eliminate debt at the golf complex and to fund capital improvements at the 18-hole course. Riverbend faces a $2.6 million debt, capital investments of at least $6 million and operating deficits of about $300,000 per year.
The council in January had approved a conditional sale of the property for $10 million to a partnership led by Texas-based Trammell Crow Co., to build new Federal Aviation Administration offices. But the General Services Administration in May picked a Des Moines site rather than Kent for the new facility.
That decision put city staff back to work to market the property, which sits just south of West Meeker Street along the Green River with stunning views of Mount Rainier.
Kemper emphasized the opening of The Platform Apartments downtown and construction of Dwell at Kent Station Apartments, which are each five-story complexes, shows other developers that Kent is ready for even more upscale apartments.
He said tenants want units that feature fine amenities such as granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, hardwood flooring, rooftop gardens and other features.
Kent could see a development similar to new projects in other cities such as the high-density Six Oaks Apartments in Bothell, the Tivalli Apartments in Lynnwood or the Spencer 68 Apartments in Kenmore, Kemper said.
Council President Dana Ralph said at the workshop that she had concerns about what an apartment complex on such prime property might look like 20 or 30 years from now.
“Kent does not have a good history when it comes to multifamily housing, we’ve got a lot of problems,” Ralph said. “Twenty-five to 30 years ago I had friends that lived in those apartments that had tennis courts and swimming pools and it seemed like a really cool thing with those amenities that my house didn’t have.
“It did not guarantee that they were good products 20 years down the road. They are now just old apartments with tennis courts and swimming pools. One of my biggest concerns is how we figure out how to build in to this long-lasting quality.”
Seth Heikkila, JLL senior vice president of capital markets, responded to Ralph’s concerns.
“We are getting the higher-quality investor,” Heikkila said about apartment projects in the region. “When these assets, something of this size will be well over $100 million of an asset, that’s not your everyday slumlord that can afford that. There is a chance it’s a foreign (investor) or a pretty significant pension fund.
“They have standards that they need to uphold. It’s no guarantee by any means, but it is the highest quality investor that you can possibly have.”
City staff plans to form a seven-to-eight member advisory group to help pick a developer’s proposal for the property to submit to the full council.
The board will include three council members, a Parks and Recreation Commission member, one or two representatives from the local golf community, a Land Use and Planning Board member, and a Financial Sustainability Task Force member.
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