Bellevue is cutting a $12 million check to help turn part of St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church’s property into a 100 unit affordable family housing complex, pushing a long discussed idea into the real world of funding, permitting and design meetings. The project leans on larger, family sized apartments, including a notable share of three bedroom units, and city and developer signals suggest it is now heading into more intensive design review and financing work in the coming months.
What’s planned at St. Andrew’s
The proposal, dubbed Forest Edge, outlines a four story community at 2650 148th Ave SE with homes ranging from studios to three bedrooms, a courtyard, on site resident services and underground parking. The plan calls for roughly one in five apartments to be three bedroom units aimed at families, with overall rents targeted to households earning about 40% to 60% of area median income.
According to Imagine Housing, the deal depends on stitching together several subsidy sources to make the numbers work. Regional funder ARCH lists Forest Edge among its 2025 trust fund recipients, positioning the project to compete for larger state and federal dollars.
City funding and the developer’s timeline
As reported by the Puget Sound Business Journal, Bellevue has approved a $12 million allocation for the Forest Edge development, and the outlet notes that Imagine Housing has flagged the first quarter of 2027 as its target for breaking ground. That commitment lands in a period when demand for affordable housing money has far outpaced available local funding, making each large award especially competitive.
How Bellevue cleared the way
To help projects like this one move forward, Bellevue adopted a land use code amendment that lets certain properties owned or controlled by religious organizations be rezoned for permanently affordable multifamily housing. The adjustment was intended to boost development potential on suitable faith owned parcels, according to the City of Bellevue.
The city council also recently directed staff to draft legislation approving a large package of housing allocations, including up to $25.7 million from the Housing Stability Program and up to $11.3 million from the Affordable Housing Fund. Those steps, described in council materials, helped create a clear funding lane for faith based affordable projects such as Forest Edge.
Timeline and next steps
Imagine Housing’s public project page lays out a multi phase schedule with continued design work and neighborhood outreach, ongoing funding applications and permitting that stretch into 2026 and 2027, plus several rounds of contingent financing approvals before major construction can start. The group notes that some of the public timelines should be read as goals rather than guarantees until tax credit awards and other subsidies are firmly in place…