Want to build commercial space and ~16 for-sale homes in Highland Park? As previewed last week, the city Office of Housing is now officially seeking prospective developers for the former Dumar Substation at 16th/Holden.

About a decade has passed since Seattle City Light declared it “surplus,” and now it’s finally on the pathway to something besides sitting vacant and fenced. Community advocates campaigned for it to be rezoned so that a mixed-use project would be possible, and it’s now zoned “neighborhood commercial” for up to four stories. Most recently, the city moved to transfer it from SCL to the Office of Housing, which is now in charge of finding an affordable-homeownership developer for the site.

The documents comprising the newly posted Request for Proposals describe the site and a project already planned for its periphery:

The site is rectangular, relatively level, and is estimated to be 9,425 square feet. In 2025, Seattle Public Utilities will construct a natural drainage system in the property’s frontage and within the public right-of-way. The natural drainage system will be located between existing sidewalks and the new edge of the roadway on SW Holden Street between 16th Avenue SW and 17th Avenue SW. The new system will help improve water quality in nearby Longfellow Creek, diversify landscaping in the neighborhood, and provide roadway and pedestrian safety by adding/updating ADA curb ramps. Proposals will need to include a plan to preserve this infrastructure.

The Office of Housing transferred $424,000 – the property’s current valuation as determined by the King County Assessor – to City Light, using funding from Mandatory Housing Affordability fees paid by developers instead of building affordable housing in their own projects. The documents say the Office of Housing will expect the developer to reimburse some of that, since it’s only supposed to go toward housing, and this project will include some commercial space. However, they also mention that the developer may apply for city subsidy funding to cover part of the costs of building. Other points of interest from the Request for Proposals – here’s how “affordable homeownership” is defined:

Affordability Level: The proposed sales prices must be affordable to households with incomes at or below 80% of Area Median Income (AMI) for the Seattle area as published on OH’s website. For the purposes of this Request for Proposals (RFP), affordable is defined as a 5% down payment, a monthly payment for housing costs (mortgage principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and other dues) of not more than 35% of income, a household size of one more person than number of bedrooms and a realistic mortgage interest rate. Proposals may not contain any market rate housing, even if proceeds from market rate housing would subsidize the cost of the affordable homes.

Affordability Duration: The proposal must be for the development of ownership housing with agreements that maintain affordability for a minimum of 50 years.

The developer also will be expected to involve community groups in figuring out how to use the ground-floor commercial space, the documents say:

Community-Informed Development of Commercial Space: Competitive proposals will include thoughtful plans to engage the community on potential uses for the commercial space and include plans for outreach to potential occupants with a focus on small, locally and/or Black, Indigenous, or other person of color owned businesses that will help to activate the neighborhood and encourage walkability. Local organizations serving Highland Park and its neighboring communities, such as the Highland Park Action Coalition, the Delridge Neighborhood Development Association, the White Center Community Development Association, the Cultural Space Agency, and Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery, should be included in this outreach effort. Projects that propose selling the commercial space will score higher than those proposing to lease it.

Prospective developers have until May 24 to get their proposals in.

This site was one of six former substations in West Seattle that were authorized in 2015 to go up for sale. Only one has been developed into housing, the former Andover substation site on Pigeon Point; another is now Delridge Wetlands Park, while the other three sites remain vacant.