Since 2021, builders have planned or constructed 3,087 homes around the South Shoreline Station.
When Sound Transit begins service on the Lynnwood Link extension on August 30th, the stations will directly serve three more cities in the Puget Sound: Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace, and Lynnwood. Those cities each prepared land use reforms to transform their station areas into dense neighborhoods. On the eve of light rail’s opening, we’re checking in on their progress at creating new urban centers.
When The Urbanist last covered development in Shoreline in 2021, we focused on the tremendous urban transformation happening along the RapidRide E corridor on Aurora Avenue. At the time, we had noted that such a transformation was still in its infancy around the light rail station areas, but we did have a small list of projects in the Shoreline South Station/148th Street Station area. That list has since grown, and the area has rapidly materialized with new apartment buildings built and under construction.
Of all the station areas, so far, the Shoreline South station area has seen the greatest change. This growth has been remarkable. It is a complete transformation of a cookie cutter suburban neighborhood into a coherent dense multifamily center. Among the caveats to this building boom, however is that all but one of the completions is on the opposite side of I-5 from the station. And just to the south in Seattle, development activity has been minimal, in part due to the presence of Jackson Park (and reticence to alter use of the publicly owned golf course) and in part due to a slow-in-coming rezone.
A new urban core stranded for now
Somewhat stranded across the I-5 chasm is a significant mass of new multifamily projects. The first batch of multi-family projects to complete here is a handful of “lower density and smaller” multifamily projects. What’s been built isn’t just a handful of single digit townhouse projects, but townhouse projects in striking distance of three-digit units. Completed in 2021 and 2023 are the Towns on 145th and “5 Degrees” townhome projects that respectively added 81 and 70 townhomes to the station area.
The other major completion in the station area is Zinnia, an amalgam of four smaller four-story apartment buildings and a parking garage. The Zinnia’s combined 299 units were completed in 2024. The project’s five separate structures help break up the superblock site, creating new walking paths in the neighborhood. From here on out the apartments get bigger and mixed uses.
Under construction are a mass of large apartment buildings on the block next to the 145th Street Overpass. These two projects are the Line Apartments at 132 NE 145th St and a large yet-to-be-named apartment building at 108 NE 145th St. They are both seven-story buildings with 241 units and 550 units respectively. The Line Apartments will also mark the introduction of the first retail space in this part of Shoreline with 1,725 square feet of ground floor commercial space. One other project is being planned here with the eight-story, 360-unit Leeway project, across the street from the other construction projects, at 104 NE 147th St.
For the next two years, these projects will have a curving, somewhat roundabout access to Shoreline South Station via the I-5 overpass at 145th street. While these new residents dodge cars looking to enter and exit I-5 on this walk to the station, Shoreline is working to complete a bicycle and pedestrian bridge on 148th Street. When it’s completed in 2026, the bridge will be a much safer and direct route for many of the residents in this new urban node.
Plans for the east side of the station area
The east side of I-5, while slow to develop, does have numerous projects planned and one completion, thankfully. The 35-unit Paramount is the lone completion on this side of the highway. It stands as a lone apartment building in a sea of single family housing for now. No major construction projects are underway here, but there is plenty of planning and permitting happening now.
Projects planned for the station area include the following:
- 305 NE 152nd St / Paramount Phase 2
- A 145-unit apartment building with 113 parking stalls in permitting.
- 345 NE 149th St / Ion
- A seven-story, 252-unit apartment building with 241 parking stalls.
- This project seems to be frozen, a loan was secured in 2022 but there’s been no activity since.
- 15124 5th Ave NE / MSR multifamily
- A 266-unit residential building with 198 parking stalls in permitting.
- 14540 Fifth Ave NE
- A 302-unit mixed-use building with retail in permitting.
- 14802 5th Ave NE / Burl
- A seven-story, 171-unit apartment building in permitting.
- 14525 6th Ave NE
- An eight-story, 303-unit mixed use building with retail in permitting.
- 516 NE 145th St
- A 12-unit apartment building under construction.
If all these projects are realized, just shy of 1,500 homes will be added on the east side of I-5 within a short walk from Shoreline South Station. New small commercial will also be a part of that mix, adding other absent commercial uses within the station’s walkshed. However, without shovels in the ground, it’ll take a handful of years before the two sides of the station area will be about balanced out.
Building out a walkable South Shoreline
In the meantime, South Shoreline is having an uneven growth spurt, with the west side of I-5 hosting 450 of the 485 completed housing units and 791 of the 803 under-construction units, farther away from the light rail station. That’s 1,241 homes built or under construction compared to just 47 on the east side of I-5. Overall, builders have planned or constructed 3,087 homes around the South Shoreline Station since 2021. Future plans would more evenly split new homes on either side of I-5.
In the meantime, the temporary housing imbalance will make the neighborhood’s walkability awkward, since new projects tend to come with improved sidewalks and ground-floor amenities. Many residents will be anxiously waiting for the pedestrian bridge for easy access to the light rail station.
The new neighborhood may also be disappointed by the lack of nearby retail and services in the immediate vicinity. As it stands, neither retail nor services can be found within a 15-minute walk of the station. One mixed-use building is under construction and two more are being planned, but they’ll only provide smaller commercial spaces insufficient for critical services, such as a grocer, day care, or clinic.
The main business node in the vicinity is to the east along 15th Avenue NE, which hosts a boba shop, thrift store, Chinese restaurant, sports bar, and a few other odds and ends. But this area is about a 20-minute walk from the station. For the west side of I-5, Aurora Avenue is the nearest business district, but outside the 15-minute walkshed. Without services and retail to make the station area a walkable community, the neighborhood will retain much of its suburban car dependency.
Good progress is being made on the suburban retrofit of South Shoreline, with thousands soon to call the station area home. How those thousands will get to the station and meet their critical needs are the questions that the city will need to answer. Though at least we can debate the nature of Shoreline’s development; there’s no new development to debate on the Seattle side of the station area.
Check out our station area development roundups for Shoreline North and Mountlake Terrace.
The Urbanist staff occasionally teams up to cover breaking news or tackle large projects. See more about our team on the staff page.
