Africatown Plaza, a new $66.5 million 126-unit affordable apartment building on the 23rd and Union Midtown block, opened to residents this month after two years of construction that included an unprecedented number of Black families who worked on the project, its developers say.

Community Roots Housing and the Africatown Community Land Trust say Africatown Plaza is a standing symbol of what can be achieved through advocacy, unity and perseverance.

“When I thought about what this day and what this project represents, what really came to me was proof and power,” K. Wyking Garrett, president and CEO of ACLT, said at the building’s opening ceremony earlier this month. “We see the proof of the true power that exists within us, and among us to imagine, design and build solutions for the problems that we face.”

The land trust formed in 2016 and secured a deal to acquire a portion of the Midtown block. As part of its acquisition of the properties — a longtime flashpoint in concerns about gentrification and displacement — Lake Union Partners agreed to sell 20% of the block to Forterra, transferring the property into Africatown’s Community Land Trust for development of a 100% affordable project on the south end of the property along Spring Street.

CHS reported here on the ongoing growth of Black-owned businesses in the Midtown Square development led by Lake Union Partners on the north end of the block where Marjorie is about to reopen as part of the new Business Community Ownership Fund that establishes real estate partnerships as limited liability corporations to acquire commercial spaces in mixed-use buildings.

The ownership at Africatown Plaza goes even deeper with the Black-led land trust developing an entire building.

Africatown Plaza is an expansion of collaborations between ACLT and Community Roots Housing that created the Liberty Bank Building at 24th and Union which opened in 2018 in what many hope would be a model for equitable development in the Central District and Seattle.

Africatown Plaza also carries on the legacy of the nonprofit UMOJA Peace Center which held the space at the corner of 23rd and Spring until Garrett’s father was evicted.

Together, ACLT and Community Roots Housing created a property development entity where each has ownership of the housing aspect of the project. Ownership of the housing units is shared with Community Roots Housing owning 51% and ACLT owning 49%. ACLT is the sole owner of the building’s community commercial space, including their new headquarters.

“Today is a historic day for the City of Seattle—for this beloved community. Only a decade ago, rapid displacement and gentrification threatened the erasure of a community who has called the Central District home for over a century,” said Chris Persons, CEO of Community Roots Housing, at the building’s opening ceremony.

Persons oversaw the development of the Liberty Bank Building and said the vision of that site was to preserve and restore history within the Central District, and that Africatown Plaza assures that history.

“The tide of displacement and inequity hound us daily and we must continue, relentlessly, together in partnership. To push back against those tides until they are overcome,” Persons said.

The $66.5 million development of Africatown Plaza was funded by public and private investment. Public support came from the City of Seattle which provided $17.2 million in acquisition and construction financing as well as $1.6 million in Equitable Development Initiative funds, and King County which provided $2 million in construction soft debt and $1.7 million in CHIP funds.

KeyBank provided $44.8 million in construction financing and $15.6 million in permanent debt, as well as $25.7 million in Low- Income Housing Tax Credit equity.

Private funding for the building’s community-focused commercial space was supported by Rise Together, a collaborative capital campaign of six nonprofit partners creating over 400 new affordable homes and equitable developments across the Seattle area. Norcliffe Foundation, Microsoft, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Wells Fargo were identified as major contributors to the effort.

Africatown Plaza is adding new homes to the neighborhood with 126 units for renters making up to 60% of the Area Median Income. The 24th and Spring building’s ground floor has been planned to provide offices for Africatown’s new headquarters, and an affordable space that will include a commercial kitchen to be used by “local culinary entrepreneurs.”

With 59 studios, 36 one-bedrooms, 18 two-bedrooms and 13 three-bedroom apartments, Africatown Plaza offers “affordable homes designed to meet the needs of both individuals and families while providing a space that is affirming to the African American community.”

Examples of qualifying incomes are $63,240 or less for a single-person household and $90,420 or less for a 4-person household. Currently, rents range from just over $1,000 for a studio to just over $2,000 for a 3-bedroom apartment. Prospective applicants can get more information on how to apply at africatownplaza.org.

The developers say they intentionally maximized minority-owned businesses in design and construction work, with nearly half of participating subcontractors owned by people of color. The general contractor is a joint venture of Absher Construction and African American-owned M.A.D. Construction.

The seven-story building designed by GGLO, Sage Architectural Alliance, and David Baker Architects also features a community room, and “a curated art collection focused on healing, restoring, and celebrating Black and Pan-African communities in Seattle’s Central District.”

Its curved, weathered rainscreen façade inspired by African architecture has already created a landmark in the neighborhood.

Moses Sun is one of the artists who is contributing work to enhance the new building. He’s still working on several iterations of the final piece, and said it will be outside of the building in sculptural form.

“It kind of wraps around, really invites and becomes a beacon to amplify what Africatown Plaza is about, and what the values are of the community, and what it is to welcome back people,” Sun said. “My hope overall is that this can be used as an example to other historically Black communities around the US that you can plant something, you can consider it, you can have a vision and the follow through will resonate for years to come, for generations to come.”

Africatown Plaza is located at 1100 23rd Ave. Learn more at africatownplaza.org.

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