A construction project in South Seattle may help shape the entrance to Bainbridge Island for generations — though no one’s picked a color yet.

BI city leaders, staff and committee members toured a Low Income Housing Institute job site in Rainier Valley April 1 to learn about the developers’ design philosophy, quality of construction and how their work will translate to the upcoming project at the corner of Winslow Way and Highway 305.

Because the BI project is situated at the gateway to business district, it sets the tone for the rest of the island — which is why the council has decided to weigh its design very carefully, deputy mayor Jon Quitslund said. “Considering our project’s prominent location, and also the limitations imposed by the one-acre site, we have to insist on imaginative and attractive design,” he said.

The power of aesthetics is important, LIHI senior design manager Eric Blank said. All of the organization’s new projects are designed to reflect their context. For example, spring green accents in the Marion West apartment/food bank building in the University District were inspired by the stained-glass windows of an adjacent library, and the Tony Lee building in Lake City in northeast Seattle has a dark gray and yellow exterior that fits with the car dealerships nearby.

“We like our buildings to be somewhat vibrant, and to look more like market-rate than the plain gray boxes that some people expect from affordable housing,” Blank said at a post-tour panel. “When we do go bold with our colors, we use paint, not pre-finished materials, so if the colors seem dated or out-of-fashion in a few years, we can simply paint over it. This allows us to be a little more bold with our color choices.”

Michele Wang, principal architect at Runberg who will be working on the BI project, added that not all of LIHI’s buildings are bright. Many are more muted natural colors, like their historic or pre-existing properties.

Last August, the City Council chose LIHI as its affordable housing developer for the city-owned lot at 625 Winslow Way, the former site of a police station. The new apartment building will contribute to the city’s goal of building nearly 2,000 new units of housing through 2044, as required by the county in BI’s Comprehensive Plan, a document that demonstrates how places will accommodate growth over time.

Out of 1,977 county-mandated units, at least 1,140 must be earmarked for households at income levels below the area median of about $159,000 due to the lack of affordable housing on BI. That’s where the city’s partnership with LIHI comes in.

The affordable housing developer specializes in providing “sustainable, creative and innovative housing for low-income, homeless and formerly homeless people,” per the nonprofit’s website, but its portfolio includes a range of affordability. Many of its buildings target residents making at or slightly below the area median income, which varies depending on location.

Most newly constructed LIHI developments have modern facades, indoor and outdoor common spaces, on-site services or businesses and access to transit. This will be the nonprofit’s third building in Kitsap County, after Frank Chopp Place in Bremerton and the Cedar Heights Apartments in Port Orchard.

Aesthetically, councilmembers are confident that Wang’s team will design the Winslow lot to reflect the character and context of BI, creating an “inviting, European-feeling” amenity for downtown, councilmembers and LIHI architects noted.

Preliminary drafts show that the development will include about 90 units, including four live-work spaces on the ground floor designed to attract small businesses, artisans or tradespeople. The building will be about 45 feet tall with two low rooftop terraces on the west side of the building for residents’ use, along with public green spaces and a plaza. “Rooftop decks at lower levels of a building feel inviting because they soften the impact of the building’s height,” Wang explained.

Councilmember Leslie Schneider concurred; the inclusion of small businesses on the ground floor and social spaces would help integrate the apartment to the community. “We do want pedestrian interactions, for a European-feeling” element to the structure, she said.

Mayor Ashley Mathews agreed. “Since I had seen their work before, I knew that the quality and finishings would be top- notch and appear the same quality or better than market rate housing, but what blew me away yesterday was the knowledge of our community and overall passion for affordable housing of the LIHI, Runberg and Walsh teams who will be working with us. I left with the overall feeling that we had picked the perfect partners to see this vision through.”

The Winslow project falls under what developers call “workforce housing,” meaning housing dedicated to residents making 60% of the area median income, or about $95,000 a year on BI as of 2023. A 2024 city survey found that 90% of BI’s first responders and essential staff live off-island and commute daily, as well as 79% of Bainbridge’s workers, including school staff and other employees.

That’s the part of the project that most excites Olivia Hall, a member of the city’s Race Equity Advisory Committee. “What’s really important to me is that one, it gets built, and two, that people — our workforce — can move in there, so people can work on the island and live here at the same time,” said Hall. “It’s also important that the amenities or the services not only serve the residents, but they can have the possibility of serving the entire community.”

City leaders enjoy the rooftop terrace of George Fleming Place, an adjacent Rainier Valley LIHI building named after Washington’s first African American state senator and the University of Washington football star.

City manager Blair King asks LIHI construction crew members about their work on breezeways and structure siding.

A wide view of LIHI’s new building, currently under construction.

A studio unit is refreshed for a new tenant in LIHI’s George Fleming Place, with a built-in dividing wall between the common space and the bedroom.

The kitchen of a studio unit in LIHI’s George Fleming Place.