Construction of the six-story, retail and residential Avalon Ballard development on the site of the former Sunset Bowl is free to get underway after it passed its State Environmental Policy Act review Nov. 23.

The Seattle Department of Planning and Development gave a determination of non-significance, meaning there are no outstanding negative environmental impacts, for the project at 1400 N.W. Market St.

The complete decision can be viewed with the link to the right.

Avalon Ballard, an AvalonBay Communities development, passed a final design review meeting April 27.

Since that meeting, the number of residential units has risen from 233 to 271, and the number of parking spaces in a two-story, underground garage has gone from 277 to 320.

The project now includes 12,200 square feet of ground-level retail space instead of the previous 13,000.

The 51-year-old Sunset Bowl closed in April 2008 and will be demolished to make room for the new apartment building.

The apartments will rent at market rate, AvalonBay representatives have said.

AvalonBay has built across the country, from New York City to southern California.

A local example is Avalon Belltown, at 2800 Western Ave. Rents there range from $1,125 to $2,495 per month, according to the company's Web site.

Appeals to the SEPA decision can be made to the City Hearing Examiner until Dec. 7.