Just a decade ago, this block of Hiawatha Place between Dearborn St. and Charles St. in the Central District was lined with overgrown, empty lots. Now it's an exemplary urban mixed-use residential street—an unusual and inspiring little pocket of urban infill.

You walk on this street and it feels comfortable. On the west side there's roughly 500 feet of nearly continuous street wall about 55 to 65 feet high. But it's not imposing, and instead creates a cozy sense of enclosure—the building height to street width proportions are in the sweet spot.

Both of the mid-rises are unique affordable housing projects—Hiawatha Lofts provides affordable rentals for artists, and Pontedera Condominiums offer for-sale housing with a range of subsidies for low-income buyers. The three-story buildings are part of Jackson Place Cohousing, and a half a block to the east is a low-rise affordable development called Stellina. There's also a new patch of market rate affordable townhouses on the north side of Dearborn St. (photo below).





The City of Seattle planted the seed for redevelopment here by creating a master plan for the surplus land it acquired after the construction of I-90 was finished.  Land was then given to developers in exchange for affordable housing covenants. The result is a stellar example of successful public-private collaboration.

And all this happened in the unlikeliest of places.  A block to the west is Rainier Ave, an area that ranks among the most pedestrian-hostile areas in the City (photo below).  A steep hill lies to the east.  It's far from any other walkable neighborhood centers. There's little room for the mixed-use pocket to expand except for out onto Rainier Ave, which would need a total makeover to ever become a place for people.



But hopefully over the over long term, this pocket of redevelopment will be just the first wave of transformative change in the North Rainier area. If the Dearborn Goodwill site is eventually redeveloped, it could potentially help knit together the neighborhoods on either side of Rainier Ave. And the planned Link light rail station at I-90* will likely catalyze pedestrian-oriented redevelopment to the south.

The opportunity is as big as the challenge.

*Nope, it's not a great site for a station, but there isn't much choice in this case.