A place Asian elders can call home

By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Ground will be broken tomorrow for the $19.5 million International DistrictVillage Square elder housing and social-service project.

The long-awaited development is the largest public-private partnership inthe International District's history. Bids for its construction are expectedto be awarded in mid-September, said project director Wendy Watanabe.Completion is scheduled for late 1997.

The site at Eighth Avenue South and South Dearborn Street is in theneglected southeastern corner of the International District, abutting thewestern side of Interstate 5. Once the site of a bus barn, the property wasvalued at $2 million but was sold by Metro and the federal government for$150,000 because it will be put to community use.

Several other plots nearby have been developed, said Watanabe. VillageSquare's developer, the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservationand Development Authority, hopes that the project will help revitalize thatpart of the district.

"A lot of businesses are watching us to see what happens there," Watanabesaid.

Part of the project is 44,000 square feet of housing for the frail elderlyin 50 assisted-living units and 25 independent-living units. The housing staffwill cook meals designed to appeal to Asians and Pacific Islanders for about200 assisted-living tenants and others in the neighborhood, and will offerhome delivery. The staff will offer help in numerous Asian languages and willprovide an adult day health program.

The project will add about 30 jobs, Watanabe said.

About 40,000 square feet of the project will be occupied by socialagencies, with space for the Asian Counseling and Referral Service, offeringmental health and other services; the Employment Opportunities Center,providing job training; the Denise Louie Education Center, offeringmulticultural child care and Head Start; and the International District Clinicand Community Health Services.

These agencies will serve an estimated 27,000 people a year, 98 percent ofthem immigrants and refugees and most of them poor.

About 200 people will be employed in these agencies, including the housingsupport staff. They will speak 43 languages.

Some of the agencies look forward to more spacious quarters than they havenow, and they hope to save money by sharing expenses for security, janitorial,clerical, accounting and other services. They also hope to buy officeequipment, supplies and employee benefit packages together.

The project also includes more than 5,000 square feet of retail space.Watanabe said the authority is negotiating with a restaurant to take all ofit.

The project's financing includes $7.1 million from public sources,including $2.9 million from the city's real estate excise tax. In addition,$8.9 million will be borrowed, including $8.4 million through the sale oftax-exempt bonds next month. The Seattle City Council voted earlier thissummer to back the bonds, so they will get a good interest rate, Watanabesaid.

The last piece of the funding is $3.5 million in donations, of which $2million has been raised. The largest donors to date are the Federal Home LoanBank and Washington First International Bank, donating $337,500 together, TheBoeing Co., Safeco Insurance Cos., Piper Jaffray Cos. and Key Bank ofWashington. The last two are underwriting the bonds.

There is also a campaign for small gifts, especially among those of Asianancestry. "We're hoping that people will want to preserve the culturalidentity that's unique to this district," Watanabe said.