Burien Transit Center Parking Expansion and Transit-Oriented Development Project

King County Department of Transportation in collaboration with Sound Transit

Project Summary

King County and Sound Transit are partner agencies in the Burien Transit Center (BTC) Parking Expansion project. The project is the second of three phases of the county’s effort to create a sustainable transportation hub at the Burien Transit Center. The first phase was the new off-street transit center completed in 2009, and the third phase will be the future TOD mixed-use housing project to the south of the new parking garage.

This phase of the Burien Transit Center project was included in the voter-approved Sound Transit 2 regional transit plan. The project will expand the parking capacity for the transit center and make more efficient use of county-owned land by constructing a 462-stall, multi-story parking garage with a 43-stall surface lot on the northern half of the old park-and-ride. Parking for BTC users will increase by at least 164 spaces (approximately 47 percent). The garage will have capacity for 50 level two electric vehicle charging stations, and will have 10 charging stations installed. Approximately 72% of the BTC Parking Expansion project is funded by Sound Transit. The remaining funding is provided by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

King County has entered into a lease/lease-back development agreement with Alliance Wasatch I, LLC (“Alliance”). Alliance is financing the project with private equity and a construction loan from Wells Fargo Bank. Alliance is obligated to construct the project from its own funds and must assume all construction risk and liability. Through a contract with Alliance, the garage is being designed and constructed by Charles Pankow Builders, Ltd., of Oakland, California.

Upon completion of the new parking garage and lot, King County intends to exercise its option to purchase the new facility for a fixed, pre-determined price. The County expects to take ownership no later than December, 2011, and then open the garage to King County Metro and Sound Transit riders.

Future Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)

Placing the Burien Transit Center’s park-and-ride stalls in a multi-level garage will make the remaining half of the lot available for housing and commercial development. Future residents and employees at this location will enjoy easy access to many downtown Burien amenities and to regional transit connections via the adjacent transit center. This TOD or transit-oriented development project is designed to reduce auto usage, increase transit usage, and provide housing and employment density in areas designated for and encouraging growth, such as downtown Burien.

The TOD project is envisioned to include a minimum of 80 units of multi-family rental housing that provide affordable rents to a minimum of 24 units qualifying at 80 percent of the area median income, at least 4,000 square feet of retail space, and sufficient off-street parking for the project.

King County has awarded Alliance an exclusive right to negotiate with the County for development of the TOD project on the southern portion of the park-and-ride property. Due to the downturn in the economy the TOD project is not moving forward at this time. However, while opportunities for TOD are being pursued, Alliance must pay the County $5,000 per month, which constitutes fair market rent for the property, for a period of two years.

Project Funding

    Federal Transit Administration

• CMAQ funds in the amount of $692,603 for preliminary engineering.
• Section 5307 funds in the amount of $5,582,000 for construction.
• Pending: CMAQ funds in the amount of $1,000,000 included in the State Transportation Plan to be available in early 2011 for construction.

    Sound Transit

• Sound Transit funds in the amount of $14,730,000 for construction.

Related documents

• City of Burien’s conceptual framework for Town Square and Downtown (external link, PDF file)