Plans for new Olympia apartment building on 7th avenue SW

OLYMPIA –– A new four-story apartment building is in the works in west Olympia. 

It will be located at 3524 7th Avenue SW, approximately three blocks southwest of Capital Medical Center. In the first phase of two, the 4.23-acre site’s development will have a total of 62 affordable housing units. The project will include a curb cut for on-site access to serve the 94 proposed parking stalls, as well as implementing the water, sprinkler, sewer, and irrigation lines, according to the project narrative. The site plan includes everything from the physical construction and its materials to its effect on the environment and its connection to the pipelines of the city.

“The relationship of buildings to the street is important and how you treat those areas,” said planning staff member Lydia Moorehead. “The fourth floor [will need] to be set back by eight feet if it’s right against the street.”

Even the number of trees on the land is taken into consideration.

“You’ll need to hire a professional forester... to put together a soil and vegetation report,” said Planner Michelle Bentley. “There’s a certain quantity of trees that are required on the parcel because there’s going to be some right of way going through the parcel. I don’t see any reason why we can’t figure out a way to make this work.”

The second phase will include a second four-story building with about 66 parking stalls. Moving forward, it will be most expedient to handle the buildings as two separate projects, city officials said.

“We’ll sit down and have hopefully a talk about the design of this,” said Engineering Plans Examiner Tiffani King.

This story has been updated to specify where the new development will be in relation to the hospital.