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Plans for a three-story mixed-use building is underway in Lynnwood, and it’s just a short walk from Edmonds College.
20305 68th Ave. W. currently has a dilapidated house sitting on it, surrounded by some trees and overgrown greenery. The property is fenced in, and a white city-owned sign stands in front of it
The city put out a public land use notice Oct. 14 on its website about the proposed Edmonds Commons Student Housing project. The plan is to construct a 58,764-square-foot building with 23 apartment units and 69 parking spaces.
Of the 23 apartments, eight will have three bedrooms, 13 will have two bedrooms and two will be studios. The first floor of the building will have 2,713 square feet of commercial space.
Property owner Ajay Sikka said his team doesn’t know yet what business will be on the first floor. There’s a chance it may be a coffee shop or small business, he said.
When asked if any of the apartments will be considered affordable housing, Sikka said his team will comply with the city’s codes, and that “a lot of this will come later in the process, once we have the initial approvals from the city.”
Sikka said the project’s completion date is dependent on the city’s review and approval process.
“We would like to start construction next year,” Sikka said.
— By Angelica Relente
Angelica Relente is a Murrow News Fellow covering housing and related issues in South Snohomish County for the My Neighborhood News Network. Contact her at angelica@myedmondsnews.com.
Student Housing is usually a very small unit, not a three-bedroom one.
Hi Laila, I worked at a public University for 4 years. And both of our kids attended colleges. My knowledge of student housing these days differs from your comment here. 3 and 4 bedroom apartments are definitely part of the on-campus inventory owned by universities. And private developers know how popular they are, so it’s smart for a private developer to plan for this near Edmonds college. That college has a significant part of their student body from Asia that are here on student S-1 visa’s . When sharing a 3-4 bedroom off campus apartment with a kitchen, they save money on rent and they get to prepare the type of food they want to eat. For those who have interaction with college students – you know that food drives so many of their choices.
As a parent of two students who recently experienced university off-campus housing, I’d say “yes and no.” There’s a growing trend in student housing for three-bedroom units with individually locked bedrooms, where each student has a separate lease agreement. These units typically share a common kitchen, living room, and other building amenities. Traditional three-bedroom arrangements with roommates coming and going seem less appealing to landlords and are now more likely geared toward families and non-students.
Laila,
Good point. And only two units will be studios. What’s up with that if it’s supposed to be “Student Housing”?
“Of the 23 apartments, eight will have three bedrooms, 13 will have two bedrooms and two will be studios.”
College students still share housing, especially in multi-bedroom units such as this development will provide. Depending on details, this should be a smart project for the Edmonds College community.
Most likely it is being built like this to take advantage of the MFTE to get a property tax break for the builder/owners of the property. According to AI, Lynnwood City has this provision on the books. There is certainly no reason that students couldn’t be target users of three and two bedroom apartments as rent and house haring tenants. The owners just want rent paying tenants and probably don’t really care if they are students or not.