MILL CREEK — The biggest development in Mill Creek in years could break ground in the coming months.
A new senior center is part of the plan.
The development, called Vintage at Mill Creek, calls for two five-story buildings of senior apartments, with commercial space on the first floor.
The location is south of 132nd Street SE, between 35th Avenue SE and Seattle Hill Road. The city has dubbed that 52-acre area the “East Gateway Urban Village.”
The idea for the village was to create something like the Mill Creek Town Center, a walkable business hub, but more residential, said Tom Rogers, the city’s director of economic development. That’s been a goal for the city since 2008, he said.
The Vintage now is in the permitting stage and could be completed in two years, Rogers said. It’s the third major project for the village. The city approved an office building there in 2011 and the Mill Creek Meadows apartments and townhouses in 2013. Both of those projects are completed.
The Vintage calls for 216 apartments, designed for seniors living on fixed incomes.
The city negotiated with the developer to put a new senior center and a police satellite office on the first floor, spokeswoman Kelly Chelin said. The city won’t pay rent for that space for 25 years, as a provision of the development agreement.
“That’s one of the really unique pieces of the site,” Rogers said.
In exchange, the city agreed to allow the developer to put in a ground-floor kitchen and beauty parlor for tenants.
The senior center will be 2,800 square feet, nearly double the size of the current senior center along Main Street, near City Hall.
The details still are being worked out, but it’s likely the new center will be run by the same folks, the Northshore Senior Center group out of Bothell.
There have been inquiries about the senior apartments, but a waiting list hasn’t been started, Rogers said. It also hasn’t been decided yet if the police department’s satellite office will have a public counter. The ground floor still has 10,400 square feet available for businesses and retail.
The city also is in talks with another potential developer for the village, with a focus on a 12-acre parcel closer to the Thomas Lake shopping center. That still is in the early discussion phase and no formal plans have been submitted, Rogers said.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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