Weekly Real Estate News
Summary
Catalyst and Koz Development delivered a 210-unit workforce housing project in downtown Spokane, with all apartments priced below 80 percent of area median income.
A $53 million workforce housing development has opened in downtown Spokane, adding 210 apartments priced below 80% of area median income and providing a test case for Washington state’s effort to convert underused parking sites into housing.
Catalyst Opportunity Funds and Kōz Development said Kōz on West 5th was delivered in September on a former surface parking lot south of Interstate 90. The development is the largest project to date to use the state’s Parking to People incentive.
A tax incentive tied directly to affordability
Parking to People exempts qualifying projects from sales tax on construction materials and labor when developers build on underused parking lots and meet affordability requirements. Catalyst said the incentive saved the Spokane project an estimated $4.2 million.
The program requires at least half of a qualifying project’s units to remain affordable. At Kōz on West 5th, all 210 apartments are priced below 80% of area median income, according to Catalyst.
The development also uses a 12-year multifamily property-tax exemption that conditions a portion of the apartments on affordability. Catalyst has positioned the project toward workers in Spokane’s education, healthcare and service sectors.
Spokane was the first Washington city to implement Parking to People, which the state created in 2022 for cities within specified population ranges. The project’s completion provides an early real-world measure of whether targeted tax relief can help close financing gaps for workforce housing without relying entirely on traditional subsidy structures.
