Metropolitan King County Council Chair Dow Constantine joined Shaun Donovan, secretary of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), on a walking tour of Greenbridge on the afternoon of Aug. 10.

Greenbridge is a White Center mixed-income community built on the site of the former Park Lake Homes public housing complex and funded in part through a federal Hope VI redevelopment grant.

“I am pleased that Secretary Donovan got a first-hand opportunity to see the community redevelopment work that HUD funding has helped accomplish in White Center,” said Constantine. “We hope this can become a model for similar Hope VI projects.

Former King County Executive Ron Sims, who is now deputy secretary of HUD, was a key leader in this effort to create a sustainable community at Greenbridge with strong connections to the broader White Center neighborhood.”

Secretary Donovan joined Constantine and County Executive Kurt Triplett for a tour of the residential portion of Greenbridge. He also visited the Jim Wiley Center (which houses the Boys and Girls Club and other community organizations), the Greenbridge Public Library/YMCA Adult Learning Center facility, and the White Center Heights Elementary School and Educare Center.

Originally built during World War II to house the families of civilian defense workers, the 569-unit Park Lake Homes was the King County Housing Authority’s oldest and largest public housing development. The new Greenbridge complex—partially funded through a $35 million federal HOPE VI grant—was constructed on the Park Lake site. It has 300 new public housing units and a mix of approximately 700 moderate-income rental and for-sale housing units.

In 2005, King County provided a $6.85 million HUD-guaranteed loan to KCHA that funded required utility infrastructure improvements at Greenbridge. Various county departments are repaying the loan over the next two decades as part of King County’s $10 million contribution to the $233 million redevelopment project.

The King County Housing Authority is an independent municipal corporation, which receives no operating funds from Washington State, King County or the region's suburban jurisdictions.

Constantine also attended an event earlier in the day at which Donovan joined Sen. Patty Murray and Congressman Jim McDermott is celebrating the groundbreaking of Rainier Vista Phase II at Tamarack Place, an 86-unit apartment project for low-income residents in Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood.

This project is one of three current Seattle Housing Authority projects that utilize federal stimulus funds.