Property Redevelopment
Two buildings + St. Luke’s = One Community
In 2017 St. Luke’s Church began exploring how to use our land to build a more diverse and inclusive community for all in Ballard. We identified our core values in consultation with our congregation, volunteers and guests at Edible Hope, businesses and residents. We heard common themes from everyone who participated in this visioning process. The core values of St. Luke’s are:
- Beloved Community
- Loving Service
- Sacred Space
- Spirit Filled
- Sustainability
Our current buildings were constructed without consideration of environmental sustainability or ADA accessibility. The electrical and plumbing systems are out of date. There’s no fire protection and a lot of deferred maintenance. Estimates to bring them up to snuff cost millions of dollars, which we don’t have. We began to look at alternatives. We hired professionals to help us in this process and are now in the process of the vision becoming reality.
St. Luke’s Apartments, the first family-focused affordable housing (Property Redevelopment – Affordable Housing) built in Ballard in over 25 years opened in October 2025.
The next phase of our redevelopment – mixed use residential housing and new St. Luke’s Church space (Property Redevelopment – New Church Space) will hopefully begin construction in 2027.
Affordable Housing
St. Luke’s Apartments opened in October 2025 and all units are leased. This 8-story, 84 unit building, meets the housing needs of those in our community making 50-60% of Area Median Income. With half of the units being 2 or 3 bedrooms, it accommodates larger and multi-generational families.
Onsite resident support services and programming is managed in partnership with FamilyWorks (https://www.familyworksseattle.org/), a local nonprofit whose mission is to “partner with families to alleviate food insecurity and ensure they have resources and support to overcome systemic barriers to equity, build stable communities, and thrive.
Affordable Childcare
St. Luke’s original plan didn’t include affordable childcare because the affordable housing developer intended to do so. Due to some funding problems, they didn’t have the space. St. Luke’s stepped into the need, giving up our gathering space to provide enough square footage for three Early Childhood Education classrooms, the highest level of childcare. St. Luke’s is partnering with Launch (https://launchlearning.org/), a provider with 47 years of experience.
Launch shares our values of serving those most in need. One classroom for toddlers and two for preschoolers will include an economic mixture of children, widening the experience of each child. In their words, “We honor all social, economic and cultural diversities. We welcome everyone and treat each other respectfully, fairly and equitably.”
New Church Space
St. Luke’s new space on the corner of 22nd and 57th will be much more than a place of worship. Beloved Community means people of all classes, races, sexual identities, ages and beliefs forming relationships with each other. There will be affordable child care programs to create that place for kids and youth, and community events to offer connection for adults and families.
We will be located on the most visible corner of our property, with nearly 14,000 square feet of space all on one level. The sanctuary and gathering spaces will all be two stories in height with offices, classrooms and storage at one story. Twenty underground parking spaces, accessed by an elevator, designated for use by the church.
The land will continue to be owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia and both buildings are under 100-year ground leases. There will be an income stream provided through the mixed-rate building but we surrendered half the land value on the site where the affordable housing building will be located.
Help us Build a Place Where Love Dwells