The Freehold Group presented their objective and intentions to the Seattle Commercial Real Estate Women for developing parts of the Interbay neighborhood as they move forward to build more mixed use in the area.

“Our sensibility about development in places is that they start with spaces and people,” said Jeff Thompson co-founder of The Freehold Group at a recent luncheon for the Seattle Chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women. “It is about providing lasting places and community links and I think that’s what embodies Interbay. We’re really in between things that already exist and have vibrancy but lack this hub in the middle.”

Freehold is working with Maestri, a multi-disciplinary firm, on a number of interrelated projects in the Interbay area. Maestri specializes in planning, design and marketing of large mixed-use developments.

“Our connection with Ballard is that we represent an opportunity for that gateway into the city that people from Ballard are proud of to see upgraded,” said Thompson. “It’s an enrichment within the city and a natural in fill of a place that is kind of a void right now.”

They are taking concepts of neighborhood revitalization to the next level in the newly rezoned Interbay district.

Last November the city council approved an upzone of the Interbay neighborhood. The area, due west of 15th Avenue East and adjacent to West Dravus Street, will be rezoned to allow for residential units up to 85 feet and businesses at street level.

Developers will also be required to provide a portion of rental housing to people earning 80 percent of the area median income or below or pay a fee to a fund to create affordable housing.

“The project team is turning a blighted and vacant area into a vibrant community with an eclectic mix of uses: industrial, commercial, retail, residential, entertainment and recreational,” said Thompson.

Acquiring their first Interbay building 10 years ago, Thompson said these projects take a long time.

However, just last week, they announced that Seattle Storm will be moving their headquarters into the Interbay building, where they are leasing 12,055 square feet.

“We think that the properties that we’re working on will be influential in creating a new character for the neighborhood and that character will be picked up by other people and they’ll build upon it," said Thompson.

A part of their objective is to use the Interbay project as an example to inspire people to do the same in similar neighborhoods, he said.

Other buildings they have converted, or have plans to convert from old industrial buildings to multi-purpose buildings, are the Trey, Bow, Bridgeway and 7-11 buildings. They also plan to build a building called the Nitty Gritty.

The Trey building, which they had done about two years ago, was a worn down building that had been used for storage in the industrial area. They then brought in Denali Fitness, turning it into a gym.

The new construction of the Nitty Gritty, Thompson said, will be a part of a larger project and embodies a number of things.

“It has industrial, retail, commercial space, office and lab,” Thompson said. “And up on the roof on the southwest corner we are looking at a farm where we have been working with chefs in town to be able to grow the herbs and vegetables that can be used in the restaurants on the first floor.”

The Nitty Gritty building will be across the street from the new Storm headquarters.

“The idea of an edible rooftop is part of ‘how do you farm on the roof?’ and what we found is that this roof provides us enough space to really produce a lot of food,” Thompson said.

With this space, Thompson also said they would like to create space which is shared with some of the office space on that floor.

“It would be a public thing in the same way as a P-Patch but it is something for the people in the building," he said.

They hope to use it actively with different types of planting beds and a place on the roof for outside dinners in the summer.

To the north of the Storm headquarters will be the Bow building. Constructed with bow trusts, Freehold is looking at schemes, such as 25,000 square feet of office space or a 18 to 30 lane bowling alley to preserve the building.

“Families need entertainment and people need places to go,” said Thompson. “This is an affordable attractive way to do that.”

For the Bridgeway building they are looking to put 1 to 4 tenants and 1 to 2 tenants in the 7-11 building which will be re-named the Corner at Interbay. Each building will activate the street-level with a cafe, bakery or eating places.

The Brown Bear Car Wash on 15th Avenue Northwest will be replaced with plans to build the Backbay Apartments holding 250 units. Thompson said it will be a long project but will be a space to both work and live.

“Our sense is to be able to live with a store, to be able to have a surface parking space, work space, business and have your apartment up above,” Thompson said.

Thompson said they will also have plans for a residential project near Barrett Park where the monorail station was supposed to go. They will be connecting that block to the block where the planned RapidRide station will be.

Across the street on the south side of Dravus, Thompson said they see opportunities for retail in the ground level and a mix of things in terms of two different projects.

“People will see that changes are going to be in different phases in time,” Thompson said. “We’re first doing over some of the small buildings and looking at the bowling alley and tenants interested in the Nitty Gritty but that’s what will drive that and the residential stuff will be coming along one at a time.”

“In creating a new environment or changed environment it’s about creating memories and when people have a memory of a pleasant experience that brings them joy and that’s what brings them back.”