GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Downtown Emergency Housing Proposal Challenged

SEATTLE-The non-profit Downtown Emergency Service Center was expecting an appeal to its low-income housing project for alcoholics, and it’s just what they got.

The project, to be located a couple of blocks south of REI’s flagship store and across an alley from a new Marriott hotel, calls for 49 studio apartments on the upper floors and a dorm-like setting on the ground floor with 26 beds. The Downtown Emergency Service Center plans to use the facility to provide “long-term affordable shelter and supportive services for pre-recovery chronic public inebriates.”

The appeal questions the city’s determination that a full-fledged environmental impact statement is not necessary for the project. An appeal hearing is scheduled for Oct. 7. Prior to the appeal, a letter to the city by an adjacent property and business owners alleges that allowing this project “will significantly reduce the value of our property and make it inordinately difficult to sell it to anyone.”