Legislation to support conversion of existing buildings in Seattle from commercial to residential uses citywide
Christian Fernsby ▼ | March 20, 2024
As part of his Downtown Activation Plan, Mayor Bruce Harrell has submitted new legislation to the City Council aimed at removing regulatory barriers for converting existing buildings from commercial to residential uses. Article continues below
The proposed changes aim to make it easier and more straightforward for property owners to convert existing structures into residential use, supporting housing development in the city, particularly in and near downtown.
The proposed legislation would establish clear guidelines for determining what qualifies as a residential conversion and provide broad exemptions from design development standards any time an existing structure is converted to housing from another use, or residential uses are added within an existing building.
Additionally, these changes would reduce the cost of conversion to residential use by exempting conversions to housing from the City’s Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) requirements.
The proposed changes would apply to all areas of the city where non-residential structures such as office or retail spaces commonly exist, and multifamily residential uses are allowed.
These include:
• All Downtown zones,
• All of the City’s Commercial (C) and Neighborhood Commercial (NC) zones,
• All Seattle Mixed (SM) zones, and
• Midrise (MR) and Highrise (HR) zones.
The acceleration of remote and hybrid work models and changes in work culture and preferences, has reshaped the demand for commercial space, particularly in Seattle’s downtown, resulting in an office vacancy rate just over 20%. ■ What to read next
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