Proposed Prefab Apartments in South Lake Union

This is one rumor that we’re excited to see – it appears that Collins Woerman is moving in the direction of building prefab apartments in South Lake Union. Well, I guess it is more than a rumor because the Seattle Times writes that preliminary paperwork has been filed for the following projects:

The two sites are on Dexter Avenue North between Valley and Aloha streets, and on East Galer Street between Eastlake Avenue East and Interstate 5.

The Dexter project would have about 160 units, the Galer project about 50. Each would have ground-floor retail space.

The prefab, modular construction system that may be used for these projects is called Sustainable Living Innovations (SLI) and we’re excited about it for a few reasons. Not only does the modular system assemble like a giant Erector set but it also results in a concrete and steel building with floor to ceiling windows.

The alpha version (aka model units/prototypes) of SLI’s product is housed in a warehouse in SoDo. Here’s an image from SLI’s gallery (note the steel frame and many windows):

The article does mention that duplicate paperwork for wood construction buildings has also been filed — but, personally, I’m hoping to see SLI’s solution get built. Each of the proposed South Lake Union projects is scheduled to undergo a design review in the coming months: Galer project on Sept 21 and Dexter project on Oct 5.

CollinsWoerman partnered with several local Seattle firms to develop the SLI concept: DCI Engineers for structural engineering, Lydig Construction for general contracting, and McKinstry for mechanical, electrical and plumbing.