Unity Village (formerly Strength of Place Village) an effort to create affordable apartment homes in White Center will hold its Grand Opening ceremonies Nov. 16.

According to Resident Manager Jasmine Brown, "We just got to 100% rented (and 90% occupied) this week though people had to give notice to their former residence so some units will be open for the tour this weekend." Brown has seen the project come together over the course of the past year since it broke ground on Sept. 15, 2010. "I think it's an asset here and it shows that affordable housing can be nice and well designed and family friendly. Most of our units are two and three buildings and that was the builders intent." A requirement for living there is to have a minimum number of people from two in a two bedroom unit up to seven people in a three bedroom unit. That can of course include whole families from grandparents to grand children.

CLICK THE PHOTO ABOVE TO SEE MORE

The project is a partnership between Capitol Hill Housing, the White Center Community Development Association and the Delridge Neighborhood Development Association.

The grand opening celebration will feature a tour of the project and remarks from King County Executive Dow Constantine, King County Council Member Joe McDermott and Burien Mayor Joan McGilton, along with other officials from the State of Washington, King County, White Center, Seattle and Burien. The event will feature local food and treats for attendees, and live music from White Center musicians.

Unity Village of White Center offers 30 new affordable apartments in a neighborhood that has lacked housing options for many years. All of the homes at Unity Village are affordable to very low-income families, and most have two- or three-bedrooms in order to serve the larger, multi-generational families of White Center.

According to CHH, residents of Unity Village will have direct access to necessary resources and community involvement through a partnership with the White Center CDA. The various amenities of this new development include a central community room, a laundry room, bike storage, on-site parking, and a children's playground.

All apartments are secured with RFID keys that can not only be programmed in minutes but allow individual keys to permit and/or track access if necessary.
Most rooms throughout the complex have their own "De-humidistat" that controls the heat and moisture in the room and are equipped with wall mounted radiant heat panels.

It is located two blocks from a major bus transit hub and downtown White Center, Unity Village furthers CHH's priority of building housing close to jobs, transit and services.

New resident Victoria Medina, who just moved in a week ago said, "I like that everything is clean and spacious with a lot of storage space. One of the reasons I liked it was Jasmine (the resident manager), she's just very informational and welcoming." She and her son moved here from Federal Way.

Residents and development partners worked together to create a new name for the building that began as Strength of Place Village. Now named Unity Village of White Center the name is intended to champion the powerful community goal of unity in White Center.

Unity Village was built in part with monies from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Tax Credit Assistance Program funding administered by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. The lead developer for the project was CHH, the White Center Community Development Association is the local sponsor and Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA) secured the site in 2008 and provided construction management services for the project. The project is owned by a tax credit Limited Liability Company in which all three non-profit organizations have an ownership stake.

Wednesday, November 16
3:00 PM: Tour of the Project
4:00 PM: Remarks and Reception
Unity Village, White Center, on the corner of SW 100th Street and 13th Avenue SW