Construction beginning on new Bainbridge townhome development with affordable units
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND – Construction is set to begin soon on a new townhome development off High School Road where nearly half of the site’s 73 units will be designated as affordable housing.
The Wintergreen Townhomes project is being developed by Central Highland Homes and built on a pair of parcels – totaling about 3 acres – in the Wintergreen Walk development already home to a Virginia Mason medical clinic, a Walgreens, a Builders FirstSource location and a KeyBank branch. The development has 42 three-story, open-market townhomes alongside 31 two-story units that will be designated as permanently affordable and placed in Housing Resources Bainbridge’s community land trust.
Central Highland Homes principal David Smith said Thursday that plans call for some early earthwork to begin at the site in the coming days, with unit construction beginning in October. He estimated that residents could begin moving into the first completed units in late February 2023.
Smith said the affordable townhomes would have a price of $369,000 and estimated that the open market units would be priced at around $550,000.
“I think with the affordables, we’re expecting to take people right out of apartments, because our monthly payments are less than theirs,” he said. “That’s the target market.”
Smith noted the project’s proximity to the state ferry terminal, the Sound to Olympics Trail, Walgreens and the Virginia Mason Bainbridge Island Medical Center. A new sidewalk will provide a link from the development to High School Road, he said. The island’s Safeway sits just across Highway 305.
“Everything’s in walking distance,” Smith said.
To be able to purchase one of the development’s affordable units, buyers have to qualify based on their income and make less than 80% of Kitsap’s area median income, Housing Resources Bainbridge Executive Director Phedra Elliott said. As of June, the 80% number works out to roughly $58,000 annually for a single person. For a household size of three, the income limit is about $74,000.
A homebuyer wouldn’t pay the full $369,000 for one of the affordable units, and subsidies are available, according to Housing Resources Bainbridge. Elliott noted a $15,000 subsidy her agency adds that sees buyers chip in 60 hours of sweat equity. If a homeowner decided to sell one of the units, they’d be required to sell to another income-qualified household and based on a formula that keeps the price low, Elliott said.
Elliott envisioned people like school district employees, workers at local medical or childcare facilities or people who work at small businesses becoming residents of the units. Elliott said the agency has already seen a significant amount of interest from potential residents and has begun to work with buyers. Those interested in buying one of the homes can find more information from Housing Resources Bainbridge at housingresourcesbi.org.
“This will definitely be a great way for people to live on the island if they work on the island, so they can live close to where they work, or remain on the island, to stay affordable, or to come to the island if that’s where they want to live,” she said. “It allows people to get into something more stable than paying rent. If you’re paying rent, you can’t control your rent, but your mortgage will not go up. It allows people to get into home ownership and get a more stable living environment than a rental, to build equity, all the benefits of home ownership.”
The Wintergreen units are the first designated affordable ownership units added to the housing stock on Bainbridge Island in any large quantity since Housing Resource Bainbridge’s Ferncliff Village was completed in 2016, Elliott said.
“It’s been a lot of work,” Elliott said of the new housing units. “We are ready to take it on, because we desperately need them.”
Nathan Pilling is a reporter covering Bainbridge Island, North Kitsap and Washington State Ferries for the Kitsap Sun. He can be reached at 360-792-5242, nathan.pilling@kitsapsun.com or on Twitter at @KSNatePilling.
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This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Work beginning on new Bainbridge development with affordable units
