AvalonBay eyes 2,500 apartments near Redmond Microsoft hub

AvalonBay Communities wants to build a 30-acre residential village with more than 2,000 apartments next to a redeveloped Microsoft headquarters in Redmond.

The Virginia-based real estate investment trust filed plans to build the Avalon Redmond Tech Station (ARTS) next to a Link light rail station that opened last year, 15 miles northeast of Seattle, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported.

The muti-phase master planned development would have up to 2,500 apartments stretched across five parcels at an undisclosed address northeast of the juncture of 156th Avenue NE and Northeast 40th Street.

The ARTS project, designed by Seattle-based CollinsWoerman, would include apartment buildings up to 16 stories. Some low-rise buildings would be retained “to meet the needs of a variety of future residents,” according to the filing.

“The vision for the proposed ARTS master-planned development is to work with existing zoning to provide a dense, highly walkable, urban neighborhood that takes advantage of its near immediate access to the East Link’s Redmond Tech Station,” Carl Shorett, AvalonBay Communities’ senior director of development, said in a statement.

The project would be built in five phases around a 1.3-acre park, adjacent to a wooded area with a stream, according to AvalonBay. It would preserve nearly half the trees on the site, with new trees planted near buildings and in open spaces.

Plans for the first phase, designed by Portland-based Ankrom Moisan, were not disclosed.

AvalonBay has already replaced part of its 1980s-era Eaves complex with a 214-unit complex known as Avalon Redmond Campus nearby, according to the Business Journal.

The REIT’s plans to redevelop 30 acres north of the Microsoft hub come as the tech firm works to redevelop its 8 million-square-foot Redmond headquarters.

The unfinished project, dubbed Refresh, will replace 12 older office buildings with 17 new office towers containing 3 million square feet. The Microsoft headquarters employs more than 47,000 workers, according to the firm.

AvalonBay Communities, whose roots trace back to 1993, has $40 billion in assets under management, including 305 apartment complexes with nearly 93,000 units in a dozen states, according to a November investor report.

— Dana Bartholomew