press release:
Harbor Properties started construction this week on Nova, a multifamily project located at 4600 36th Ave. SW in West Seattle. Nova’s start comes just a few months after the successful lease up of Harbor’s LINK Apartments project, located just a few blocks away, in the quickly reemerging Triangle neighborhood.

The West Seattle Herald published the story about the project last March.

Nova is a 5-story building that features 62 compact, 1- and 2-bedroom apartment units. The Built Green-certified building is located adjacent to the newly renovated West Seattle Motel property. Nova is due for completion in December 2012.

“We’ve had great reception with our first two West Seattle projects, so we’re excited to continue the momentum here by bringing Nova to market,” said Denny Onslow, executive vice president and chief development officer at Harbor Properties, a local full-service real estate firm with mixed-use urban-infill projects in West Seattle, First Hill, downtown Seattle, Columbia City and other emerging urban neighborhoods.
Marketing Director Emi McKittrick commented, “We find there continues to be high demand for quality, sustainable workforce apartment units in Seattle — particularly in this TOD urban neighborhood.”

Nova is the third residential building to be developed by Harbor in the West Seattle neighborhood area over the past several years. The company opened the 136-unit Mural Apartments in mid-2009, which includes 3 leased ground-floor retail spaces. This past spring Harbor opened LINK, a 195-unit project with 18,000 square feet of fully leased commercial space. The residential space is leased at 98% and was recently named the 2011 Multifamily Project of the Year by NAIOP.

Together the three projects add nearly 400 additional market-rate apartment units to an area of Seattle quickly becoming a magnet for workforce residents who want to live near existing goods and services as well as multi-modal transit options. To that end, the Triangle neighborhood will soon serve as a hub for Metro Transit’s RapidRide Line C. Slated to open later in 2012, RapidRide Line C will provide frequent downtown bus service to commuters traveling from West Seattle’s neighborhoods including the West Seattle Triangle. The neighborhood also boasts a new Trader Joe’s slated to open in early 2012.

The lease-up for the retail and residential spaces at LINK was among the most successful in Harbor’s 40-year history of developing mixed-use residential projects. Harbor’s McKittrick believes that trend will continue with the opening of Nova next year. “West Seattle is one of those long-time urban neighborhoods that have a certain heart and soul that can’t be duplicated. We believe there’s still a great deal of potential here in the future,” she said.

For all three projects, Harbor utilized the City of Seattle’s Multi-Family Tax Exemption, which provides economic incentives for projects that enhance urban communities and serve the moderate wage-earning resident. As with all its projects, Harbor involved neighborhood stakeholders in Nova’s process, conducting outreach with key stakeholders to receive input on their vision of the project and how it fits into the surrounding neighborhood.

Nova is situated just a short walk from the Alaska Junction neighborhood — defined by the intersection of California Ave. SW and SW Alaska St. — which is widely considered the retail and entertainment heart of West Seattle. The pedestrian-friendly Junction is home to a wide array of shops, nighttime activities, eclectic restaurants, a new public park, and a highly successful seasonal farmer’s market. Nova is also located near the acclaimed West Seattle Golf Course, widely considered one of the best public courses in the region.
Nova’s unit size and product mix is meant to appeal to renters seeking high-density, market-rate housing where there is a sense of community. Unit design elements include extra large operable windows, including floor-to-ceiling installations in some units; stone kitchen and bathroom countertops; Karndeen floors paired with trendy carpets; and stainless steel Energy Star appliances. Nova’s celebrated feature will be a 3,000-square-foot rooftop “moon garden” from which there are stunning views of the downtown skyline and Cascade Mountains.

The Nova project team also includes Runberg Architecture Group, Compass Construction, Coughlin Porter Lundeen Inc., and Bank of the West. More information on Nova and Harbor’s other urban-neighborhood projects is available at www.harborproperties.com or by calling 206-623-0916.

About Harbor Properties
Founded in 1972, Seattle-based Harbor Properties, Inc., a local full-service real estate firm with mixed-use urban-infill projects in West Seattle, First Hill, downtown Seattle, Columbia City and other emerging urban neighborhoods. For more information about Harbor, please visit www.harborproperties.com.