ION Renton proposes apartments at Park Ave demo site, but their cost projections seem optimistic

Conceptual plan for phase 1 reconstruction at 500 Park Avenue North, From ION Renton’s Pre-Application Package

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.

Cost estimates from ION Renton project narrative

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.

Site plan showing trees to be removed and trees to be saved, from ION Renton’s pre-ap package

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 proposal

Saved: 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.)