NEWS GLEAMS | Mayor Bruce Harrell Submits Legislation to Convert Unused Offices Into Housing

A roundup of news and announcements we don't want to get lost in the fast-churning news cycle!

by Vee Hua 華婷婷

Mayor Bruce Harrell Submits Legislation to Convert Unused Offices Into Housing

Last week, Mayor Bruce Harrell submitted legislation to the Seattle City Council to ease regulatory barriers around converting unused office spaces into residential units. The legislation is part of his Downtown Activation Plan to "revitalize" downtown Seattle and Seattle Center.

"With the recent passage of the State's sales tax exemption on construction for projects converting nonresidential spaces to housing, this legislation is another powerful tool to tackle the housing crisis and replace building vacancies with vibrancy," Harrell said in a press release. "While we know there remains a need for office space, this effort will give us flexibility to help optimize our built environment and create the downtown we want to see—a thriving workplace and vibrant community for families and residents of all backgrounds. These changes are a critical step in moving the idea of office conversion to a reality."

With downtown office vacancy rates exceeding 20% following the initial COVID-19 pandemic closures and increased work-from-home habits for white-collar workers, Harrell has been promoting the commercial-to-residential conversions since his 2023 annual "State of the City" speech. Last summer, the City's Office of Planning and Community Development ran a design competition, which has yielded design solutions and architecture renderings. Twelve design teams submitted 13 potential solutions to the City.

While none of the solutions has resulted in developments, their findings helped inform the current legislation. According to the press release from the Mayor's office, the design teams learned whether older commercial structures were suitable for conversion; that financial incentives were necessary due to the complexity and expense of the process; and about the importance of more streamlined permit-review processes and more flexible construction codes.

If approved by the Seattle City Council, the citywide legislation would help more clearly define what constitutes a residential conversion. The legislation would also provide certain exceptions, which would speed up construction or lower costs whenever an existing structure is converted into housing or residential units are added within an existing building. Affected areas could include all of downtown, as well as all of Seattle's Commercial (C), Neighborhood Commercial (NC), Seattle Mixed (SM), Midrise (MR), and Highrise (HR) zones — essentially, anywhere non-residential office or retail structures exist and multifamily residential uses are simultaneously allowed.

Initial reflections from some Councilmembers have been positive, including from Councilmember Tammy Morales (District 2) and Councilmember Robert Kettle (District 7). Councilmember Morales said, "We must pursue every opportunity to build vibrant neighborhoods and increase housing throughout our city. This is particularly true of downtown. I am excited to work toward making our downtown affordable to more families and workers and look forward to reviewing this legislation in my Land Use Committee."

Washington State's Affordable Connectivity Program to End in April

April will be the last month more than 77,000 King County households — and 334,000 across Washington State — will continue to receive internet discounts through the nationwide Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).

Implemented by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in early 2022, the ACP helped 23 million low-income households across the U.S. pay for internet services. The program stopped accepting applications in early February, and in early March, the FCC announced it will be winding down ACP benefits due to a lack of funds, unless Congress approves new funding.

A survey released by the FCC in late February found that more than two-thirds of ACP households did not have consistent internet connections prior to their enrollment in the program, and that more than three-fourths of current ACP households are likely to experience service disruptions when and if the program ends.

If Congress does not renew the program, ACP participants are likely to see their bills increase in May. Interested parties can contact Congress or learn more about how to support the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act of 2024, a bipartisan effort in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate to continue ACP funding, at DontDisconnectUS.org.

To prepare for the potential winddown of ACP benefits, customers are encouraged to:

• Read communications from their internet service providers (ISP) regarding the changes.
• Change their language of choice via their ISP in order to understand all communications.
• Actively contact their ISP to ask about their monthly bill and available options.
• Contact the national ACP Support center at 877-384-2575 for updates on application status and questions.
• Visit the FCC Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Center to file formal complaints, should their ISP not follow FCC wind-down procedures.
• Explore discounted ISP options, such as Low Cost Internet Programs or the Lifeline Program, which some ACP recipients may already be participating in.

Concerned residents currently participating in the ACP program can join an online conversation via Zoom on Thursday, March 21, at 12 p.m. The conversation, hosted by the Digital Equity Learning Network of King County, will feature local internet providers that will help participants understand their options after the program winds down.

The latest information about ACP updates can be found at FCC.gov/ACP and AffordableConnectivity.gov. Also available is an ACP Wind-Down Fact Sheet, with translations in Arabic, Chinese-Traditional, Chinese-Simplified, French, Haitian-Creole, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.

La Union Studio Is First Property to Benefit from Business Community Ownership Fund

On March 18, the full-service interior design and cultural placemaking space La Union Studio, celebrated its opening as the first beneficiary of the Business Community Ownership Fund (BCO Fund), run by the City of Seattle's Office of Economic Development (OED). The BCO Fund touts itself as a first-in-the-nation pilot program and investment model, which secures fixed, affordable rents for business owners from communities that historically have had less access to capital due to systemic barriers, such as racism.

Run by founders Sonia-Lynn Abenojar and Sergio Max Legon-Talamoni, La Union Studio prides itself in being relationship-focused and collaborative throughout its design process, as it specializes in "the design of commercial and residential buildings with a focus on the design of cultural, retail, hospitality, food service, multi-family value additions and custom single family residential projects."

According to OED, business owners who work with the BCO Fund receive numerous benefits: shared ownership of commercial real estate spaces; affordable occupancy costs; a culture of shared community with other business owners; and access to resources and tools that will help support their growth. This project was also supported by Mayor Harrell, Grow America, and JPMorgan Chase.

📸 Featured Image: Pioneer Square in 2018. In 2023, the City's Office of Planning and Community Development ran a design competition seeking ideas for downtown office space conversions. The third-place winning team submitted a proposal focusing on reusing historic buildings in Pioneer Square, converting them into residential units and a shared courtyard. Photo via Roman Khomlyak/Shutterstock.com

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