An up-and-coming neighborhood sandwiched on the border of Fremont and Wallingford has added 2,000 apartments in a decade, and another wave is on the way with eight-story projects.
The Stone Way corridor has changed a lot over the past decade. Thousands of new apartments have replaced warehouses, parking lots, and low-slung retail. Trendy new restaurants, bars, and cafes have joined the old standby dive bars and greasy spoons–and I’ve feasted on the spoils as a local resident.
I wrote about that trend in 2015 and again 2018, and the area around Stone Way just keeps booming. Active construction projects would bring hundreds more homes into existence. Within a few blocks of Stone Way, about 2,000 new apartments have went in since 2012 or are under construction. Another 650 homes are in the design review and permitting phase, give or take.
Recent proposals have taken advantage of the Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) rezones that added an extra floor or two of zoning capacity along the corridor. Three eight-story proposals have materialized. One at 3665 Stone Way would add 242 homes, replacing the old Stone Way Electric warehouse, and another eight-story proposal at 3831 Stone Way would add 146 homes and replace a garden center and parking lot. An eight-story design just north of Fremont Brewing will bring 130 apartments, mostly small efficiencies, and replace two dilapidated single family homes. Small efficiencies will allow a five-story proposal at 4009 Stone Way to provide 128 homes on a relatively modest lot.
I mapped out recent and pending projects along Stone Way below, an area I’ve referred to as “Frelingford” much to the chagrin of Seattle old-timers. The dark grey shapes are buildings completed since 2012. Orange polygons denote projects under construction, and yellow ones are proposals in design review or are awaiting construction permits.
