Renton Highlands will be getting significantly improved bus connections to Link Light Rail at the end of this month. This will be a very welcome improvement for Renton residents who live near this route. The route has historically only provided commuter express service to Seattle for a few hours each weekday morning and evening, at times that don’t always align with individuals’ work schedules.
The new Metro Route 111 schedule will begin on August 29. The new Route 111 will run 16 hours per day on weekdays, 13 hours per day on Saturday, and 11 hours on Sunday providing connections from Renton Highlands to the Link Light Rail station in South Bellevue. Headways will be 15 minutes on peak weekday hours, and 30 minutes during other times. From the Bellevue station riders can catch the #2 rail line to Seattle, Bellevue or Redmond. They can also transfer to the #1 rail line in Seattle to go to the airport, Federal Way, or Lynnwood.
After more than two years of amassing fines and complaint letters, ION Renton presented Renton officials with a peace offering this past holiday season. In November they let the City know they were serious about getting started with the demolition of the smaller of the two abandoned buildings, and they offered preliminary concepts for a first phase of redevelopment of the site. Residents and nearby businesses have been glad to see the three-story derelict 500 Park Avenue building finally coming down.
ION Renton has provided the City with a preliminary proposal for phase 1 construction at the Park Avenue site where a derelict office building has been removed. Type VA construction is wood frame with 1-hour fire resistance. (From ION Renton project narrative)
ION Renton’s proposed replacement is still preliminary, and has not been widely advertised. I only learned these details from reviewing public records regarding potential upcoming Renton projects. ION Renton’s proposal was prepared for a pre-application meeting, which is a fact-finding introductory meeting where a developer gets advanced input from the city. It would not be fair to be overly judgemental at this early stage, but helpful input is valuable.
A conceptual view from North 5th and Park Ave North. The orange is commercial storefronts, and the blue-gray is apartments. (From ION Renton’s pre-ap package)
From my experience, I think their mixed-use (mostly apartment) proposal fits the existing zoning and could possibly work at this location, but I am concerned that ION Renton has significantly underestimated the costs of construction. I also have some design suggestions and want them to keep more trees.
ION Renton is proposing a 165,000 square foot project with an estimated construction cost of $30.6 million, which works out to be about $185 per square foot. Apartment construction can easily cost $300-$500 per square foot in our area, potentially double the estimate they submitted. Looked at another way, they hope to build 161 apartment units ranging from 1-3 bedrooms for about $190,000 per unit (based on $30.6 million construction, plus about $4 million for the land, minus about $4 million to be spent on retail space instead of apartments) . Building apartments for $190,000 each would be an amazing achievement, and it doesn’t seem possible these days. For comparison, Renton Housing Authority’s 2021 Sunset Oak project created 60 units for $26.6 million, a per-apartment cost of $443,000. ION Renton will currently need to pay mitigation to Renton for Transportation, Parks, Fire, and Schools, and utilities which could add up to $20,000 per unit just in fees.
And the construction costs could go much higher depending on the environmental cleanup effort that would be required. The Department of Ecology had determined this previously-polluted site had been sufficiently cleaned up to support office use by their 1970s-1980s standards. But Ecology’s residential pollution standards are more rigorous than office standards, and their 2026 standards are more strenuous than they were four decades ago.
Renton’s staff review at the pre-application conference addressed this with a broad brush by simply noting the project was “pending environmental review.” My experience says any significant soil cleanup could add millions in costs and years of flowtime to the project.
Hopefully ION Renton is just coming in optimistically about these low costs while preparing for potentially more realistic costs. Who doesn’t like an optimist, right?
Aside from my concerns about costs, their proposal to build multifamily housing seems like a reasonable use, with a few comments/suggestions of my own: demolish the 7-story building before they construct any new apartments to avoid dropping glass and concrete on the work site; add details to the final proposal that create nice street frontages and sidewalk connections (which is required by the zoning); save more of the trees, and find a location on the broader site to replant the trees they are removing.
In conclusion, I’m glad ION Renton is finally getting some of the demolition completed, and kudos to them for bringing a proposal forward for more needed housing. While ION Renton should have kept the office buildings in operational condition until the company was prepared to demolish and rebuild, I wish them success in achieving their vision for mixed use on their site. It will still be a long process for them to achieve approval and a viable financial plan, so they must remain focussed on completing the demolition of the seven-story building and making their property safe and presentable until building permits are issued.
The conceptual view from North 5th, showing the building’s connection to the existing parking garage. From ION Renton’s pre-ap package.The remnants of 500 Park Avenue North (a building I used to have an office in). This building would be replaced by the mixed use apartment/retail project.These trees between the demolished office building and Park Avenue North would be removed by this proposalSaved: these large redwood trees between the garage and the adjacent Metalcraft Fabricators would be protected under the ION Renton proposal. (Trees near the Garden Avenue side of the garage would stay, and trees near Park and North 5th street would be removed.)
In the midst of a statewide housing crisis, Renton School District has begun tearing down homes for a ballfield that won’t open until 2030. Ten homes on the block are still in legal dispute, but the residents of these homes will soon be surrounded by weeds and broken concrete where they used to have neighbors. Those opposed to the School District’s actions have suggested this is why the School District is moving so fast– to destroy the neighborhood so the remaining owners feel compelled to move, while lowering their property values. The school district plans to tear down 32 single-family homes along with eight businesses.
No permits for a new school have been issued, and the Renton City Council has never taken a vote on whether to vacate any of the public streets that would be necessary to complete their plan. So by tearing down the neighborhood, the School Board has chosen to “force the hand” of city government to grant all of their future requests or else forever live with the blight of a demolished block of houses where a vital neighborhood once stood.
The demolition of the houses is also an end-run around the new Houston Eminent Domain Fairness Act recently unanimously passed by both houses of the state legislature. The act was named after the Houston family in Renton who lost their property to the Renton School District in the 1960s, and then watched it get sold for a profit. The act requires the School District to sell back property taken by threat of eminent domain to the previous owners for the original purchase amount if it is not used for its proposed public purpose. By demolishing the homes on the land before any building permits are issued, the School District has ensured that the owners can not get their homes back even if the district is unable to build, defeating the intent of the State Legislature.
Other homes on the right of these signs will soon be getting demolished. The elimination of the neighborhood will put Renton High adjacent to the Renton Airport. (The building at the end of the street is an airport building that will remain.)
The project schedule shows the new high school, including the new ballfields where this home is being torn down, will not be complete until late in 2030– over five years from now.
North Renton resident Matt Hanbey showed a poster at last night’s meeting displaying a timeline related to Council activities on the Logan Six project. In the previous Council Meeting the poster and much of Mr. Hanbey’s presentation was mysteriously left out of the video feed.
An apparent censoring of a poster exhibit at last week’s audience comment further illustrated the heightened tension that is preventing residents and council members from freely communicating at council meetings.
In a blog post on March 25th I described how our city leaders should find their way back to the type of council meeting communication we had with residents in past decades. Prior to the pandemic, audience comment was an interactive and solution-oriented portion of each council meeting, in which council members routinely asked questions of presenters, shared their own perspectives on issues raised, engaged in cooperative problem solving, and often referred resident’s concerns to the Administration or a Council Committee for review. But lately it seems the “communication” consists entirely of residents giving three-minute monologues, with no response other than a possible “thank you… Next”
Two weeks after my post, a member of the public brought a poster board exhibit to the audience comment that had a timeline on it, and for some unknown reason the video recording system did not capture any images of it. Instead of the usual protocol of recording an image of the speaker, the cameras moved from focussing on the speaker to showing the council for the entire three minutes. This left those of us watching the meeting online very confused about what was on the poster that seemed to be so controversial that it was being censored.
This is the view that remote viewers had of Mr. Hanbey’s presentation at the April 14 meeting. The poster Mr. Hanbey held (which was written, shown to Council, and is therefore probably a public record) was never shared with the remote viewers of the meeting. As a public record, it was even at risk of not being properly retained, except a quick-thinking staff member managed to take a photo of it.
This was a huge departure from past decades, in which residents were welcome and even encouraged to bring written exhibits to audience comment, usually in the form of paper that could be displayed for everyone in the chambers using a special projector next to the audience comment podium. Residents would use the projector to show such things as maps, lists, photos, calendars, timelines, event posters, and any other exhibit that improved communication between the resident and the Renton Council. In the pre-digital age we could see the data projected on a screen (from paper or view foils), and in later years we could see it on our monitors on the council dais. Residents would certainly challenge us back then like they do now. Concerns and complaints have always been a common reason for residents to attend a council meeting. But that did not stop Council from encouraging residents to show written documents with their testimony.
With this display option no longer readily apparent , Matt Hanbey brought a poster-board chart instead, and it then seemed to be censored on the video feed.
Thankfully, Mr. Hanbey contacted Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Ed VanValey after he realized he and his exhibit were not shown on the meeting video feed, and CAO VanValey agreed to remedy the mistake at the next council meeting. That subsequent meeting occurred last night, and as CAO VanValey said, the timeline poster and Mr. Hanbey’s testimony were broadcast. Hence, the confusion has apparently been corrected, but not before at least two speakers mentioned it in last night’s meeting.
Whoever censored this audience comment has apparently been retrained, but the underlying tension that sowed the censorship should still be addressed. Elected Officials must remember that (as the Declaration of Independence says) “governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and that the residents that make their way to City Hall to speak with them are collectively their bosses. Council should engage with the public, the way any of us would engage with our employer, when issues are brought up or questions are raised.
Renton’s residents usually hold the answers to Renton’s problems, and it is Council’s job to gather these solutions and help implement them. Interacting during audience comment, including looking at the data the residents bring forth, is an important part of this assignment.
North Renton residents issue press release about their Logan Six appeal. This appeal was announced on Monday night after North Renton neighbors tried one final time to get assistance from Renton City Council. This is the statement in its entirety:
PRESS RELEASE
NO Logan 6!
Contact: Sheryl Friesz, Matt Hanbey
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RENTON ‘AHEAD OF THE CURVE’!? MORE LIKE ‘BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE!!’
Renton Neighbors Raise Funds, Hire Lawyer to Appeal Proposed Logan 6 Development.
Renton, WA (March 25, 2025) – Renton Neighbors, fed up with city, the mayor, and the city council are taking their issues to court:
“We’re fed up. We’ve tried to work with the city and our elected officials for more than eighteen months, including our city council members and mayor, but they played ostrich and dug their heads in the sand. So, we’re taking our issues to Superior Court.” “The message we’re sending— and have been sending– to the City, the Mayor, and the City Council is: we will not tolerate the inaction, lack of engagement, and disregard for process on developments, like Logan 6, that impacts all of Renton.”
A business jet lands over Renton’s Piazza in downtown Renton. I shot this photo with my iPhone a week ago while dining in Rain City Market.
Don’t be surprised to hear more nighttime business jets in Renton through October. Boeing Field has completely closed their smaller runway for the next seven months, and their large runway will be closed every night starting at 8:15-9:15 PM and continuing until 3:30-5:15 AM.
While business jets based at Boeing Field would be expected to schedule their operations for the runway’s daytime (open) hours, Renton will likely pick up nighttime traffic from jets based elsewhere that are flying to our area and trying to work around the closures. Particularly jet taxi services will likely find Renton to be the most convenient nighttime alternative to Boeing Field.
Private jet traffic will likely pick up even more this summer, particularly with the FIFA Club World Cup soccer activities.
The impact from private jets in Renton is already being felt. I’ve heard from a Mercer Island resident who has noticed an overnight increase in Renton jet traffic. Jet traffic from Renton often goes directly over Island Crest Way, near the center of Mercer Island.
Billy O’Neill, “Dale Chihuly’s right hand man,” (in white sneakers) selecting the large facility on Airport Way for his decorative glass making studio. The venue was going to teach youth and adults the art of Chihuly style glass making. The large open-bay building features the same old-growth historic bowstring-trusses that caused our city council to save the Pavilion building in the 1990s.
It was a dream come true for Renton’s Arts Community, our youth, and our Economic Development department. A world-class glass studio was relocating to Renton, headed up by the vice-president and operations manager of Chihuly’s workshop in Seattle. Billy O’Neill, who Seattle Times calls Dale Chihuly’s right hand man, was working on a gift for Renton that would have taught new generations of Rentonites how to create beautiful glass sculptures and containers. Mr. O’Neill has served on the Seattle Arts Commission, as secretary on the Executive Board of Directors of the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) and on advisory boards for the Seattle Sounders and other non-profits– a perfect fit in Renton. He was instrumental in creating Chihuly’s Garden of Glass at Seattle Center.
But the exciting glass art studio fell victim to a School District Eminent Domain taking, along with numerous other businesses and homes, with no acknowledgment by the School Board of the glass studio’s extraordinary significance.
The business, called “Glass Eye” already has a permanent sales location at Pike Place Market, which would have soon been selling the Made in Renton glassworks. We would have a new Made-in-Renton products we could share with visitors and far-away family, to replace our much-missed Uptown Glassworks.
Renton’s long-time general aviation service provider, Pro-Flight, has been sold to a company with an express plan to transition it to servicing Jet Aircraft, to relieve Boeing Field. An enhanced fueling station (a gas station for jets) appears to be part of their plan.
I’m not referring to new Boeing jets, which are the latest technology, and take-off lightly-loaded over the lake once or twice per day. I’m talking about 30-year-old Learjets price-shopping for fuel, and landing at all hours of day and night.
Excerpt from Dark Horse business plan
Industry pressure to cater to jets in Renton has existed for decades, but we resisted this pressure during the 28 years I was on Renton City Council. Jets are typically 2-3 times louder than the propeller-driven counterparts, and Renton neighborhoods are already barely tolerating airport noise as it is.
In addition, private jets are not as available to residents. With smaller propellor planes, a Renton resident wishing to learn how to fly can go to Renton airport and take lessons. Similarly, a Renton photographer can charter a plane for a photo-shoot. Other Renton residents have joined flight clubs at our airport, or even keep their private airplane here.
Our airport is currently a Renton Community Airport (that also launches new Boeing aircraft once or twice per day). If we’re going to switch the airport’s focus to relieving Boeing Field Jet traffic, this was worthy of a discussion by our Renton Airport Advisory Committee. The greater Renton community also should have been notified. While few noticed as the city extended this lease, everyone will notice when jets begin refueling regularly in Renton in the future.
Our community had a heated episode with a proposed Jet Center seventeen years ago, when our Council was presented with a proposal, and residents living from Benson Hill to Mercer Island formed an organized opposition. The “NoJets.org” group used every bit of leverage they could to defeat the proposal. This was not easy because FAA does not give cities any real say in what airplanes use our airport. Our city can only partially manage the airport activity by the choice of tenants we lease to, and by the length of our runway.
I do not blame the new Leaseholder, Dark Horse Aviation LLC, as they have been completely up-front with their intentions. They sent a letter to Renton’s Public Works Administrator back in November spelling out exactly how they would use the property if a lease was extended. I just wish our RAAC and Renton community had been notified.
The letter of introduction. The words “Renton’s outstanding future to be the legitimate first-class corporate reliever for light and midsize jets in the region,” ideally would have prompted airport management to consult RAAC and the greater Renton community for advice.
Renton airport may become a gas station for jets. Noisier older model jets, that burn more fuel and have owners that are more price-sensitive, may be Renton’s likely customer base.
This excerpt from the business plan shows the new lease will extend Pro-Flight’s current daytime prop-plane operation to 24/7 jet landings and takeoffs. This will be of interest to residents living within a few thousand feet of the airport. The RAAC has representatives from every neighborhood specifically to advise on topics like this.
This noise comparison published by Purdue University includes a Jet Airplane flyover at 1000 feet at 103 dB, and a propeller flyover at 1000 feet at 88 dB. Because of the logarithmic scale, the Jet is 2-3 times louder. This is due primarily to the greater flow of air at higher speed in a jet engine.
