Having covered developments in transforming Totem Lake as well as the Downtown and Rose Hill corridor, what remains to tally up in Kirkland are the developments in smaller nodes of density. Juanita, Finn Hill, and Lake View are among the neighborhoods with some capacity for denser development. These nodes of density score all over the place on an urbanist’s scorecard. Indicators like transit availability, walkability, and livability are wildly varied, as we travel between Kirkland’s smaller neighborhoods.
Juanita, underachieving but set up for success
Of all the neighborhoods left to discuss in this series development rundowns, Juanita is best set up to absorb current and future zoned capacity. Several bus routes, including the very frequent 255, serve the main arterials of the neighborhood. Two midrise zones in Juanita, one by Juanita Beach and the other surrounding the Safeway and Goodwill on 100th Avenue NE, are served by this fair transit service. These midrise zones are rather scrawny, so few significant midrises are actually being planned in Juanita. The development planned will mostly be small multifamily. Additionally, there is one 12-unit subdivision project near the border with Bothell.
Despite the zoning, one of Kirkland’s largest projects is being planned in Juanita. Currently, the Juanita Goodwill redevelopment at 13233 100th Avenue NE is proposed to be two 6-story mixed-use buildings with 595 units and 22,658 square feet of commercial space between the two of them. Based on trends and zoning requirements in Kirkland, it is likely that this development would have to build well over 1,000 parking stalls. Expect these figures to shift, as the project is very early in the planning phase.
The next scale of development in Juanita are small to middle sized multifamily and/or mixed-use buildings, mostly around Juanita Beach Park. North to south this includes:Finn Hill, Juanita’s malignant neighborIf Juanita is doing alright by the bus service it has, Finn Hill is building despite its missing bus service. All the development happening in Finn Hill is guaranteed to create car-dependent households due to the lacking services, awkward bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and no transit. The typical development in Finn Hill is either a large lot townhouse development or a large-lot single-family home subdivision. Perhaps it is fortunate that larger and permitted projects have not arrived in Finn Hill yet.Lakeview and Market, Downtown’s waterfront neighborsNorth and south of Downtown Kirkland/Moss Bay are the neighborhoods of Market and Lakeview. These two neighborhoods have small nodes of significant zoned capacity and have fair bus service. Development in Lakeview and Market tend to be smaller office and multifamily uses. Lakeview does distinguish itself with more existing multifamily development and an accessible waterfront, but slight worse bus service.Other odd nodes and summing it all togetherWhat is left to cover includes Houghton, South Rose Hill/Bridle Trails, and Kingsgate. Like the other nodes, small multifamily, small commercial, and single-family subdivisions are the chief developments happening here as well. The only remaining standout is in Bridle Trails at 13033 NE 70th Pl, where the Modera Bridle Trails project is being planned to be a 6-story, 368-unit mixed-use apartment building with 7,000 square feet of retail space and 461 parking stalls. Houghton has a 10-room hotel completed in 2019 and an 8,700 square foot office building under construction. Kingsgate just has a townhouse development, outside of the projects bordering Totem Lake.Altogether, most of the development planned in Kirkland outside of Totem Lake and the Downtown Kirkland/Rose Hill corridor is concentrated in the large Juanita Goodwill Redevelopment and the Modera Bridle Trails projects. Over 1,450 units, 100,000 square feet of commercial uses, and 2,400 parking stalls have been constructed, are under construction, or in planning and permitting since 2019. Of these, only 240 housing units, 54,976 commercial square feet, and over 550 parking stalls have already been constructed.Going forward, not much significant development should be expected in the minor development nodes in Kirkland. Minus Juanita, all of them are quickly approaching zoned capacity. With a comprehensive plan update on the horizon, Kirkland should at least bring and expand midrise zoning to its best transit served neighborhoods. Of the discussed neighborhoods, Juanita, Houghton, and Market standout as having good to fair transit service due to Route 255 and other routes passing through the neighborhoods.This is not to excuse the other neighborhoods from growth. Transit must improve to serve neighborhoods like Finn Hill that have already built significant numbers of new housing units with paltry transit service. Neighborhoods like Lakeview, Bridle Trails, and Kingsgate could also use a boost in service to their infrequent bus service. Seeing large midrise projects developed in a car-centric fashion is unfortunate and runs counter to the city’s climate and transportation goals.
Build on Kirkland’s Success with More Housing Near Route 255 and a Simple Parking Fix
