CAPITOL HILL RFP PROJECT ELEMENTS – QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION
HOUSING APPROACH SITE B-NORTH
The Agency’s primary interest in development around our stations is to increase or generate transit
ridership. To this end the agency is keenly interested in housing density. Through the community
involvement processes and the City’s Urban Design Framework, the community expressed great interest
in providing both family housing and affordable housing on the redevelopment sites. The Development
Agreement mandates that site B-North is reserved exclusively for affordable housing at or below 60% of
Area Median Income. Sound Transit’s Coordinated Development Plan, the basis for the Development
Agreement, provides a minimum unit count for the site. Collaborative work with the City’s Office of
Housing (OH) provides further details for the desired housing mix.
The best proposals will:
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maximize the number of units on the site while maintaining 15-20% of the residential floors as
common space;
propose rental properties on the site;
provide family-size units (defined as 2+bedroom units);
if Seattle Office of Housing (OH) funds are proposed, provide a competitive return on OH’s
investment, measured by proposed OH financing as a percentage of total development cost
(TDC), with TDC per unit not exceeding the limits set by the Washington State Housing Finance
Commission;
propose financial sources that can realistically be secured to meet the Agency’s preferred
project schedule.
A Sound Transit commissioned residential market study updated in 2014 reported that current multifamily projects built on Capitol Hill have a unit mix and size shown below:
Unit Type
Unit Mix
SF/Unit
Studio
40%
525
1 Bedroom
45%
675
2 Bedroom
15%
930
We anticipate that developers would take this information into account when designing their project
proposals. Sound Transit has stated a preference for family-sized units defined as two bedroom units
and larger. The scoring generated by the Site B-North housing model gives significant weight to larger
units.
The scoring by way of the Site B-North Housing Tool will include the ranges of Exceptional, Good,
Acceptable, and Unacceptable for the various elements associated with the proposed Housing
Approach. These elements include:
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unit density;
unit mix;
An average cost per unit;
Leverage of proposed OH financing. OH funding policies limit the percentage of OH financing to
40% of TDC. The lower the OH contribution, the more competitive the proposal.
The stated elements are derived from the Project Requirements in the Development Agreement and
their intent as described and depicted in the Coordinated Development Plan, as well as a snapshot of
what recent history shows to be developer’s unit type response to the Capitol Hill market. This approach
allows flexibility in proposal responses; proposals will be evaluated for the quantity, quality and
inclusiveness of the proposed approach, concepts and strategies.
B-North Housing Tool
The input sheet contains two sections. The first is a unit mix by level of affordability and the second is a
financial sources table.
Requirements:
1. An acceptable proposal must meet the minimum unit count of 86 units sited in the Coordinated
Development Plan.
2. An acceptable proposal must meet income restriction called out in the Development Agreement
which states that all units on site b-north are at or below 60% of AMI.
3. All income restrictions must remain in place for a minimum of 50 years.
4. Between 15% and 20% of the residential portion of the project must be reserved as common area in
order for a proposal to be considered acceptable.
5. Per Seattle Office of Housing policy, OH will not finance more than 40% of the TDC of any one
project.
6. Per Washington State Housing Finance Commission policies, TDC per unit shall not exceed:
Unit Type
Cost per Unit
Studio
$204,750
One-Bedroom
$231,000
Two-Bedroom
$273,000
Three-Bedroom Four-Bedroom
$315,000
$347,000
A project’s total development cost limit is defined as the sum of the total number of units of each
bedroom size multiplied by the cost limits of that bedroom size. Total Development Cost is defined as
the Total Residential Project Cost minus the cost of land and minus capitalized reserves. All units (lowincome, market-rate and common area units) are to be included in the calculation. The cost of land
subtracted out is the value of the land per the appraisal. Additional costs associated with the land
including, but not limited to, closing costs, infrastructure, site work or purchase and sale extensions
must be included in the Total Development Cost for the purposes of determining whether a project
exceeds the TDC limit. Capitalized Reserves include long-term reserves such as an operating reserve or a
replacement reserve; they do not include reserves capitalized to cover the lease-up period.
Projects are subject to the Development Cost Limit Schedule in place at the time of application. As part
of the Application, Projects must provide a detailed breakdown of anticipated Total Project Costs.
Housing Tool Points
Due to the model’s quantitative scoring driven by certain project elements, subsequent changes to a
proposal may lead to rescoring or disqualification.
1. Unit Mix Points are awarded for the mix of units included in a proposal. They are awarded as
follows:
A. .2 point is awarded for each studio. Studios are defined as units that are 350sf in size or
larger but that don’t include a bedroom, therefore open 1-bedrooms count as studios.
B. .4 points are awarded for each 1-bedroom unit.
C. 2 points are awarded for each 2-bedroom unit.
D. 5 points are awarded for each unit that contains 3- or more bedrooms.
2. 1 point will be awarded for each percentage point below the average of the Washington State
Housing Finance Commission’s Total Development Cost per Unit limits.
3. Projects must not exceed an OH ask of 40% of total project costs. 1 Point will be awarded for
each percentage point below 40 to encourage a lower OH subsidy.
SITE B-NORTH HOUSING APPROACH SCORING
Due to the models quantitative scoring driven by certain project elements, subsequent changes to a
proposal may lead to rescoring or disqualification. In addition to filling out the applicable housing tool
provided, proposers shall submit a narrative of their project’s housing approach describing:
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the proposed unit mix
Unit density achieved
Levels of affordability provided
Address provisions for family housing
Populations provide for
Special support services included
Narrative justifying live/work units if applicable.
The preceding elements of the proposed housing approach will be evaluated for consistency with the
Project Requirements, quantity, quality and integration of approach in meeting or exceeding the Project
Requirements and intent of the Coordinated Development Plan.