On October 7, the City of Seattle, Washington, issued a permit to "construct new mixed-use building" at 2402 Second Ave., on the Belltown corner where the YWCA has run the Lexington-Concord apartments. Its reported value is $16.0 million.
The permit is the go-ahead for a project two years in the making: tearing down a century-old, three-story apartment complex and putting up a seven-story building with more homes in its place. None of the coverage we read put a price on the project. The permit value is the figure reported to the city, not a contract amount or the full development cost.
A building judged "structurally obsolete"
The plan first surfaced in September 2024, when the Daily Journal of Commerce reported that the YWCA wanted to replace its 59 low-income units at the corner of Battery Street with 83 new ones. City filings by the project's architects described the old complex as "structurally obsolete."
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By June of this year the site was cleared to go. The demolition permit had been issued and the building was empty, the DJC reported on June 5. Tenants received a relocation payment and moved to other affordable apartment buildings, some inside the YWCA's portfolio and some outside it.
The Registry described the new building as seven stories of "deeply subsidized family housing," nearly doubling the homes on the site.
Bigger apartments, for families
The new Lexington-Concord is meant for households with children. Its 83 units will be "primarily two- and three-bedroom family-size apartments," according to a July 2 project announcement posted by JH Brawner, a project partner. That announcement put groundbreaking in summer 2026.
The money is public. The project is funded by the City of Seattle Housing Levy, the Washington State Department of Commerce Housing Trust Fund and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits allocated by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, according to the same announcement and the Registry.
The permit tells it a little differently
The permit's own words don't match the announcements exactly. It reads: "Establish use as permanent supportive housing for 82 stacked dwelling units and human services facilities." That is one unit fewer than the 83 in every news account, and the permit's label of permanent supportive housing with human services space is not how the YWCA's partners describe a building of family apartments. The coverage we read doesn't explain the difference, and we couldn't confirm which count is final.
The permit is also the first public value we have seen. None of the DJC, Registry or partner reports we read gave a construction cost.
Where the money comes from
Seattle voters approved a $970 million Housing Levy on November 7, 2023, to run seven years and pay for more than 3,100 new affordable homes, the city said. Lexington-Concord is one of the projects drawing on it.
Nationally, subsidized housing is taking a bigger share of what gets built. Yardi Matrix projects that by 2027 the supply of fully affordable apartments will be 44% above 2020 levels while market-rate supply falls 11%, Multifamily Dive reported in August. Total new apartment supply is forecast to bottom out in 2027 at about 444,343 units.
What's next
With the old building empty and both the demolition and construction permits issued, the YWCA can now build. The partner announcement put the start in summer 2026. We couldn't confirm a completion date in a source we could read in full.
How we count
The permit comes from the City of Seattle's permit records and is dated by issue date. The value is the valuation reported on the permit, not a contract amount. The building's history, size, unit mix and funding come from the news coverage and announcements linked here.
See all of Seattle's latest permit numbers, updated weekly.
Sources
- Daily Journal of Commerce, "YWCA plans redevelopment with 83 Belltown units" (September 16, 2024): djc.com
- Daily Journal of Commerce, "83 affordable units for YWCA in Belltown" (June 5, 2026): djc.com
- The Registry Pacific Northwest, YWCA's 83-unit Belltown affordable housing project: news.theregistryps.com
- JH Brawner, affordable housing news, YWCA Lexington Concord (July 2, 2026): jhbrawner.com
- City of Seattle, "Mayor Bruce Harrell celebrates voters' historic passage of $970 million Housing Levy" (November 7, 2023): housing.seattle.gov
- Multifamily Dive, Yardi Matrix supply forecast (August 25, 2026): multifamilydive.com
- City of Seattle permit 7118487-CN.
- Photo: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org
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