More condos may be coming to the Island but this time they w ill be outside of Town Center. The company that bought Shorewood Heights Apartments in 2005 has announced plans to construct approximately 120 new condos and town homes on its 44.5 acre campus on the northeast corner of the Island.
In a statement released last week, Security Properties Inc. announced its plans to add a condominium component on seven acres of the Shorewood compound. Permit records with the city show the company has filed requests to subdivide the property.
Those permits have not been finalized, according to the city’s senior planner Jeff Thomas and the environmental review has to be completed as well. There are also permits on record for converting the existing apartments into condos but the company does not plan to do that anytime soon, said Jeanne Muir, who was speaking on behalf of Security Properties.
“There has been some interest from current renters that would like to become owners but that’s not on the table right now,” Muir said.
The Managing Director of Security Properties, John Marasco, said the new condos and town homes will target move-down buyers.
“Our research shows that many Mercer Island residents are seeking an alternative to single-family home ownership,” Marasco said, “either because they want to downsize from the family home or prefer a more maintenance-free lifestyle. We also have current Shorewood residents who are excited about the possibility of purchasing in the community.”
The plans for the new structures are still in an early design phase, Muir said, but it proposes 114 condominiums in new three-story buildings and 10 side-by-side two-story townhomes. There will be a variety of home styles and sizes in the new condominiums, which will be one and two bedrooms units, but the exact unit sizes have not been determined yet. The press release stated they will range from 800 to 1,700 square feet.
They also plan to construct parking spaces underneath the condos and town homes. The northeast part of the property is adjacent to a city-owned open space and Marasco said they plan to build connecting trails and landscapes.
“We are planning to nestle the new units into the woods,” Marasco said. “The natural environment will be enhanced and, where grading does occur, reforested or landscaped appropriately. New woodland trails will connect the campus throughout and to trails on bordering properties.”
Muir said the prices for the new units haven’t yet been decided because the sizes have not been determined.
Both Muir and Thomas agree that the project probably won’t reach the public hearing stage of the process for some time.
Shorewood Heights was originally built in 1949 and new structures were added in 2001. It currently has 646 apartments in 40 separate buildings, according to county records.
Security Properties purchased the compound in 2005 for $114.25 million.
Security Properties owns more than 20,000 apartments in 35 states.
On the Web:
www.shorewoodheights.com
