The roughly 7,800-square-foot property is expected to include a mix of affordable and market-rate rentals. Most of the homes will have two or three bedrooms, according to the agency. At a projected cost of $15 million, the development budget works out to about $750,000 per home.

Chopp, a longtime affordable-housing advocate and former Washington House speaker, died last year. His widow, Nancy Long, said the family did not want to sell the property to a for-profit developer. Chopp also secured $200,000 in seed funding for the social housing agency. Long said he would have been proud to see the site used for affordable housing.

The Central District project is the agency’s second housing investment. In May, it acquired the 150-unit Elara at the Market in Belltown. McCoy said a third acquisition, not yet announced, would bring the agency’s holdings and planned homes to 300 by year’s end.

The agency aims to own or have 1,000 homes in its pipeline by the end of 2027, and has raised its year-end production target by 70 percent. It is planning at least six additional projects over the next year and expects to issue a $270 million bond to support its growth. The expansion also involves nearly tripling staff over the next 14 months.

Much of the agency’s funding comes from a voter-approved 5 percent surcharge on compensation above $1 million at large corporations. The tax generated $136 million last year and another $59 million during the first half of 2026—about two and a half times the expected revenue, according to the figures presented with the project announcement.

Seattle’s social housing model is designed to serve a range of incomes, rather than only households with very low incomes. Higher-income tenants can help subsidize rents for lower-income residents. At the Elara, the agency says it plans to dedicate 60 apartments to households earning less than 50 percent of the area median income. It has also provided residents with free ORCA transit cards, frozen rents for two years and hired a restorative justice manager to help address tenant conflicts.

The Central District proposal is also intended to meet the agency’s labor and environmental goals: SSHD says it plans to use union labor and follow passive-house and universal-design standards. The project’s family-sized apartments could address a local shortage; fewer than one-third of Seattle-area rentals have two or more bedrooms, according to Zillow listing data cited in the project coverage.

The plans arrive as the agency’s growing tax revenue draws political attention. At a Sept. 29 City Council budget committee meeting, Councilmember Bob Kettle raised the possibility of using some social housing tax revenue for other affordable-housing projects. Council members are barred from amending the tax until February 2027, when a two-year restriction expires.

Community support and the project’s reception may also depend on the Central District’s history. Urban renewal and displacement have deeply affected the neighborhood, long the center of Seattle’s Black community. At Friday’s event, the Rev. Robert L. Jeffrey Sr. of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church supported the project, saying the agency’s community-preference policy could give people with ties to the area an opportunity to return.

McCoy said the agency is speaking with the city about moving Chopp’s blue-heron-shaped tiny home from the property and preserving it as a landmark. The developer has also said it may pursue taller buildings in the future, including through housing cooperation agreements with the city that require City Council approval.