Real estate investment trust AvalonBay Communities filed plans for a master plan development with thousands of apartments near Microsoft’s massive corporate headquarters near Seattle in Redmond.
AvalonBay, based in Arlington, Virginia, would build 2,000 to 2,500 multifamily units east of the 520 freeway next to the new Redmond Tech Station light-rail station that opened last year, according to the plans filed with the city.
The project called Avalon Redmond Tech Station comes as multifamily developers have built or planned thousands of units in Microsoft's home city, where the tech giant expects to add jobs as it consolidates operations from across the Puget Sound region at its refreshed headquarters campus due to be finished in phases starting this year.
Microsoft’s consolidation in Redmond, where new light rail service is connecting the city to job centers in Bellevue and eventually Seattle, is expected to keep apartment renter demand strong in coming years, according to CoStar analytics.
Developers have responded by adding 1,100 apartments in Redmond last year, with 900 slated to be finished in 2025 and about 1,400 units under construction, according to CoStar data.
AvalonBay's proposal is the kind of transit-oriented project envisioned in the city's Redmond 2050 comprehensive plan that was approved by the city council last November, according to city staff comments. The comprehensive plan aims to guide growth over the next two decades as Redmond evolves from a bedroom suburb of Seattle to a walkable city with housing and green spaces built around new transit stations.
Avalon Redmond Tech Station would cover five parcels on 30 acres around Northeast 40th Street and 156th Avenue Northeast.
The apartment REIT proposes replacing its sprawling 1990s-era apartment complex at 15606 NE 40th St. called Eaves — which has 374 units across dozens of low-rise apartment buildings — with a “dense, walkable, urban mid-rise community” that has buildings up to 16 stories, according to city permit records.
AvalonBay, which owns several projects across the Puget Sound region, has already redeveloped a portion of Eaves as the new Avalon Redmond Campus, a 214-unit complex that opened last year at 15602 NE 40th St.
The trust, which owns more than 300 properties with more than 93,500 units across the country, started new residential projects last year valued at $1.1 billion. AvalonBay expects to start another $1.6 billion in construction this year, even as many builders have slowed construction, executives said during an earnings call last month.
Multifamily developers are expected to complete 376,000 units in the U.S. this year, just over half of the nearly 700,000 units finished in 2024, the highest number since the mid-1990s, according to CoStar's Multifamily National Report.