By Kate Snyder
After years of planning, the first phase of the Sammamish Town Center development is preparing to get off the ground. Members of the community and development team will celebrate the milestone during a groundbreaking event on Saturday, May 18, that will mark the beginning of construction for what officials plan to be a new downtown for a city that has gone without one since its inception more than two decades ago.
“The goal is to bring out of the ground the city’s town center,” said Matthew Samwick, CEO of Innovation Realty Partners, the developer behind a portion of the land dedicated to the project. “The City of Sammamish is the newest city in western Washington. It was incorporated in 1999, so this is its one and only shot at creating a vibrant heart of the city, a downtown that it’s never had, a main street it’s never had. The goal is to bring all kinds of housing choices that don’t exist in the city together with goods and services… so [residents] don’t have to do the daily errands of life outside of the city.”
Samwick further pointed out that a real downtown could help turn Sammamish into a more pedestrian-oriented city than it is now.
The first phase of the project includes the construction of Brownstones West, a two-story residential complex located west of Metropolitan Market at the corner of 222nd PL SE and SE 4th Street. Brownstones West consists of 38 townhomes on five acres, with 21 units planned to front a park-like setting in the city. Also on that site is planned regional stormwater infrastructure. Another planned subdivision is Brownstones East, consisting of 48 townhomes. Phase one will also include the first part of a mixed-use area comprising 300 apartments and 82,000 square feet of commercial space, which will be followed by the construction of 294 additional apartments and more commercial space totaling 18,000 square feet. Open space and other public amenities will also be incorporated into phase one. Samwick said it’s unclear at the moment exactly how many phases the project will consist of all together.
Town centers can inject needed economic boosts to cities that have them, Samwick said. By providing space for public services and businesses as well as residential areas and transportation options, the district can grow into a suburban-urban area that brings growth and activity that benefits the city overall.
“We’ve reached an inflection point in the United States where the suburbs can no longer grow outward and they have to grow upward,” he said. “This is a blending, bringing the best minds and people and services together to create a vibrant urban area in what is up to now been a suburban area.”
In 2019, Innovation Realty Partners and Pillar Properties announced the formation of a joint venture partnership to develop, manage and operate phase one of the Sammamish Town Center.
Innovation Realty Partners, LLC and its affiliated companies were formed in 2010 to undertake complex real estate projects, including the Sammamish Town Center, according to the firm’s website. In the past several years, Innovation Realty Partners has become the largest private property owner within the Sammamish Town Center district, aggregating close to 90 acres. The firm plans to develop future phases of the town center in accordance with the city’s adopted plan and as the market demands.
