What are the Issaquah Transit-Oriented Development and Opportunity Center?
Rendering of the proposed Transit-Oriented Development.
The City of Issaquah is inching closer to breaking ground on our proposed Transit-Oriented Development Project, located right across the street from the Issaquah Transit Center. The vision for this project is to have a mix of affordable and market-rate housing on the same campus, with healthcare and/or human services located on the ground floor below in the “Opportunity Center.” This integrated campus model has been very successful at the Together Center in Redmond, and we hope to replicate their success in Issaquah.
We also hope that the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) project can help catalyze development in Central Issaquah (see below map). The Central Issaquah Plan was adopted in 2012, and aimed to focus Issaquah’s future growth in our existing commercial core. Since then, no housing has yet been built in the area proposed as our “Regional Growth Center” (outlined with the purple dotted line). The hope is that this project could serve as a proof of concept and help catalyze further housing in Central Issaquah.
Map of Central Issaquah. The location of the Transit-Oriented Development is indicated with a star.
The TOD project has been quite the journey, starting in 2016. You can read the full timeline on the City’s website. Long story short, there were a ton of complications with the site, and many negotiations required between the City of Issaquah, the former landowner (Lumen), the King County Housing Authority (KCHA), and several other groups. However, this project has remained a priority for the City of Issaquah, as our staff have spent hundreds of hours on negotiations, trying to move this project forward, and finally succeeding.
As KCHA was working to develop the final design for the building, they came to the City Council with a request for a “Housing Cooperation Agreement.” Essentially, this is a special agreement that allows a public housing authority to get exemptions from particular aspects of city codes. KCHA had identified a few city rules that were costly or infeasible for their affordable housing project, including a stepback requirement that would raise construction costs by $1.2 million. After a lot of deliberation and discussion, the City Council agreed to the Housing Cooperation Agreement, providing KCHA with some flexibility and allowing them to move forward with final permitting approvals. The final permits are expected to be approved this year, and construction is expected to start in 2026. Hooray!
Opportunity Center
The Opportunity Center has not been without its own share of challenges. The City of Issaquah had previously identified a healthcare provider that would lease out the full Opportunity Center space. Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2025, this provider had to pull out of this agreement, given the federal funding cuts and ongoing uncertainty, and not wanting to overextend themselves. This was understandable, so the City looked into what other options we had to still move this project forward.
Ultimately, we found that the best option was for the City of Issaquah to acquire the commercial space, and for us to rent the space out to other human services organizations. This would provide certainty to KCHA as they’re finalizing the financing for their project. Additionally, the state legislature has allocated $3 million for Issaquah to use on building out the Opportunity Center, which we could risk losing if we don’t use the Opportunity Center for the purpose of health and human services.
On September 2nd, Issaquah City Council voted to move forward with acquiring the Opportunity Center and finding human services organizations to provide services in the space. We’re planning on reaching out to human services organizations beginning in October to see if they would be interested in having a location at the Opportunity Center. Including these services alongside affordable housing will be a huge asset to our community, and I’m looking forward to this project coming to fruition.