Sept. 2, 2025 — Redmond, WA — The Redmond City Council approved a consent item authorizing a purchase and sale agreement with Bellwether Housing for a 1,600-square-foot ground-floor commercial unit in the Prisma mixed-use development, located adjacent to Sound Transit’s Overlake Village Station light rail stop.
The acquisition, costing $618,000 including tenant improvements, supports the creation of a Small Business Support Center and City Hall annex while aiding financing for the project’s 328 affordable housing units targeting low- to moderate-income households.
The council agenda memo AM No. 25-123 details the site on King County Parcel 644895-0020 in the Overlake Intercultural District, a diverse area where over 42% of residents are foreign-born.
Bellwether will also dedicate adjacent Parcel 644895-0030 as over 16,300 square feet of open space and provide easements and frontage improvements.
The move followed council direction in May 2025 and aligns with city goals for transit-oriented development and business support.
Prisma, a six-story building with ground-floor commercial space, emphasizes deep affordability for households at or below 50% area median income (AMI), including about 55 units at 30% AMI and 10 accessible units for residents with disabilities, plus family-sized two- and three-bedroom apartments.
A 50-year affordability covenant ensures long-term restrictions, with rents below market rates.
The City of Redmond is seeking to enter into a purchase and sale agreement with Bellwether Housing for the acquisition of a commercial property on the ground floor of the Prisma affordable housing project.
Partnerships enabled the project, including Sound Transit selling surplus land valued at $30 million for $250,000, King County providing over $5 million in gap financing, Amazon Housing Equity Fund soft loans, state low-income housing tax credits, and the city contributing nearly $3 million plus fee waivers and expedited permitting. A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH) also supported funding.
Redmond Mayor Angela Birney and Principal Planner Ian Lefcourte detailed the collaboration in a Dec. 23, 2025, National League of Cities blog post, positioning Prisma as a national model for equitable transit-oriented development amid East King County’s housing crisis. Groundbreaking is planned for early 2026, with units ready by early 2028.
The NLC promoted the project on X on Jan. 7, 2026, noting: “In @CityOfRedmond, a collaboration between the city, a public transit agency and a nonprofit housing developer resulted in Prisma – a six-story, mixed-use development that aims to become a national model for equitable transit-oriented development.”
The project addresses regional needs identified in King County planning policies, where over 70% of Redmond’s housing growth to 2050 should be affordable at 50% AMI or below. Related developments include R22 Overlake Mixed-Use and Overlake East MGP XII.
