Red Cedar @ Yesler Terrace

When completed in 1940, Yesler Terrace was Washington State’s first public housing development as well as the nation’s first racially integrated housing development. The original project was 2-story wood townhomes on the 30 acre site. After the turn of the millennium, the Seattle Housing Authority began plans to redevelop the project into a mixed-use neighborhood with mixed-income residential, office, retail, and community spaces. After careful analysis and community outreach, plans were created to replace and augment the existing affordable housing stock by selling parcels to market-rate developers and doubling the number of affordable residences. A new First Hill Streetcar now connects Yesler Terrace with Seattle’s downtown.

Red Cedar serves a culturally diverse mix of families and seniors. A seven-story “north bar” anchors the complex in the sloped site, while the shorter component of stacked townhomes wraps a child-friendly triangular courtyard, protecting it from Broadway and Fir Streets. The first two levels of the north wing are Type I concrete construction, accommodating a parking garage, with five levels of wood-frame apartments above. The south wing has one level of Type I with four levels of wood above.

SRG and PYATOK designed the complex to meet the needs of diverse families and seniors with a variety of townhomes and flats. In addition to the apartments there is a community room accessible by the broader neighborhood, a multipurpose room for residents, 1:1 bike parking, laundry facilities, SHA offices, and a playground in the courtyard.