The last of Yesler Terrace's iconic rowhouses will be rubble by May - Crosscut

"Part of it was being very patient with people and giving them enough time to make this decision," Koehler said in his on-site office, cluttered with paperwork and notes from failies. 

Founded in 1939, Yesler Terrace was the country's first racially integrated public housing project. It became famous for its vibrancy, a counterbalance to the derided "projects" of large East Coast cities. Former Washington Gov. Gary Locke lived there, as did the late Ed Lee, former mayor of San Francisco. Jimi Hendrix lived there, too.

There are no shortages of microcosms for the change and growth in Seattle. But there's something particularly salient about the redevelopment of Yesler Terrace, which contains the promises of growth's benefits, alongside the corporatization that others fear most. Tucked between two of the city's most quickly gentrifying neighborhoods — Chinatown-International District and the Central District — the new Yesler Terrace tends to evoke a sense of nostalgia, promise, reticence and, for some, begrudging acceptance, sometimes all at once.

As residents came and went, Kristin O'Donnell stayed. O'Donnell, 79, moved to Yesler Terrace in 1973 after a divorce. When she learned of the redevelopment plans, she thought to herself, "There goes the neighborhood."

In addition to mold and pests, the piping beneath the old apartments needed to be torn up, a herculean project that would mean huge expense and headaches for the residents. "It wasn't really a choice about redeveloping Yesler, because the buildings themselves had aged to the point that they couldn't be rehabbed," said Kerry Coughlin, a spokesperson for SHA.

So the housing authority made a calculation: It would sell parts of the land to a private developer and use that money to create a new Yesler Terrace. The result would be a mix of deeply subsidized housing, "workforce" housing affordable at a slightly lower income level, and market-rate homes.

For O'Donnell, it was the sell-off that concerned her most. "It belonged to the public; it was public land," she said. "It's now private land. Is the public going to ever get that back? No, they're not."

And yet, after leaving for a few months when her apartment's time was up, O'Donnell returned. Despite her concerns, she marvels at the views from her upper-floor apartment. The elevators, too, make her life easier.

The redevelopment was "the least bad decision," she concluded. "They sold off the farm in order to save it…. It's nicer than subsidized housing ought to be. But if somebody has to live there, it might as well be me."

Others feel little nostalgia at all. Asked if she misses the old Yesler Terrace, Amina Shali doesn't hesitate: "No."

"The only thing I miss is the yard," she said. "That's all."

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The last of Yesler Terrace's iconic rowhouses will be rubble by May - Crosscut
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