The opening of the U District Light Rail station is among the first of many major changes in store for the area
By Grace McGuire, November 19, 2021
The Angle Lake-bound Light Rail train arrives at the U District station, Nov. 18, 2021. (Photo: Grace McGuire)
Rapid transit expansion is known for changing a neighborhood, but many Seattleites are unaware of just how much the U District will be changing in the next 15 years as a result of the recent Light Rail station opening.
Sound Transit celebrated the opening of the U District Light Rail station on Oct. 2, making the university area more accessible to the rest of Seattle. Student mobility just took a huge jump, small businesses are getting more foot traffic and commuting is easier than ever.
“Since I don't have a car, it's really great for me because I can get to places that I would normally have to wait a lot for buses,” UW student, Victor Simoes said.
Developers take note of neighborhoods, like the U District, that are now more interconnected and desirable as ripe for infrastructural growth.
“Transit really creates a hub within a neighborhood,” John Gallagher, a public information officer at Sound Transit, said. “Expanding the light rail system, in that sense, creates more opportunity in terms of density.”
The Light Rail construction and opening is one of the first large-scale projects that is guiding the U District towards its Seattle 2035 plan. The mandated comprehensive plan that was released in 2015 details the city’s vision for creating a more vibrant and developed environment that people will be drawn to.
In 2017, the Seattle City Council rezoned the neighborhood for the first time since the 1970s, allowing for high-rise developments to be as tall as 320 feet in some areas.
The rezoning was focused primarily on the area south of Northeast 50th Street and west of 15th Avenue Northeast, ranging all the way to I-5. Notably, University Way, the central strip that houses over 100 small businesses, was excluded from this upzoning.
These highrise buildings provide the opportunity for higher-income individuals and families to live without purchasing a house in Seattle’s increasingly competitive housing market.
According to the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, between 2013 and 2020 the median price for a house in King County rose from $420,500 to $729,600.
As a result, the apartment rental market is changing rapidly. Lower and medium income individuals and families are being forced out of the city as units in their affordability category are dwindling, while high income individuals and families are taking the rental units.
The construction of new market rate housing, often in the form of highrise structures, highlights the need for increased affordable housing in the area.
For many, an encouraging sign of what the city is capable of doing for low-income individuals is Rosie’s Tiny House Village located at 1000 NE 45th Street. The property, which is owned by Sound Transit, was originally being used as a construction site for the new station, but has since been converted into a village with a common kitchen, bathroom, and showers as well as hot meal deliveries for unhoused individuals in the area.
Despite the village, which is a partnership between Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) and the City of Seattle, only being projected to be around for 3 years, there is prospect that this land may be used for affordable housing in the long term.
“One of the things that we are working hard toward is creating affordable housing on those transit oriented development sites,” Gallagher said.
The changes in the U District will have a big impact on UW students, who for many reasons are sensitive to displacement and one of the main stakeholders in affordable housing.
As of 2020, over 20% of all UW students last year experienced financial hardship regarding their housing.
“We have about 20,000 students that live in the neighborhood and the neighborhood only can really hold about 36,000 people in total,” Don Blakeney, executive director of the U District Partnership, said. “And so there's really kind of a cap on how many of the folks that go to the school can live in the neighborhood.”
According to Blakeney, the expansion of infrastructure will simultaneously alleviate some of the pressure from lack of housing, while it also may force some to look for housing in other neighborhoods as rent prices increase.
Only time will tell how drastically the U District will change and if these short-term benefits to the community can be sustained in the years to come.
“It's not all a slam dunk,” Blakeney said. “I think people are looking at the change, and keeping an eye on it to see if they see themselves in the prosperity that comes with that change.”