A closer look at Wheaton Way’s housing projects
Here’s a look at five of the recent residential housing projects recently opened or coming online soon along East Bremerton’s Wheaton Way corridor.
Blue Ridge Apartment Community
The Blue Ridge Apartment Community is adding 193 apartments on the corner of NE Riddell Road and Almira Drive by mid-summer – and that’s only with its first phase. The units vary from studio to two-bedrooms and the complex offers communal amenities like a clubhouse, fitness center and hot tub.
The planned 17-building apartment complex follows an uptick in commercial development along Highway 303, neighboring to the east a complex that now includes a Wilco, which opened in 2018, a Planet Fitness that opened in 2015, and the Grocery Outlet.
The monthly rents range from about $1,300 to $1,895, said Kathryn Dobler of Dobler Management Company Incorporated. She considers the complex workforce housing, in that the rents are affordable but tenants don’t have to sacrifice privacy, vehicle space and quality housing for the price point.
The Blue Ridge Apartment Community doesn’t work with housing vouchers, but Dobler says the units appeal to military, retirees, those saving up to purchase a home and retail workers.
Dobler cited the growing selection of retail stores nearby to shop at, or for employment opportunities, as well as the Wheaton Way Transit Center to attract students or shipyard workers who commute south across the Warren Avenue Bridge.
The first phase of the project, for 193 units, was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Dobler said, and phase two will bring another 130 units after breaking ground in 2025. Dobler expects construction on phase one to wrap up in June and to have the units
filled by then, as the units are already leasing quickly.
Kitsap Landing
Kitsap Landing, across Wheaton Way and accessed to the south from Riddell Road, has also seen demand rise as developers approach the home stretch on the project after they began clearing the 19 acres once home to the Soil Factory behind the Goodwill in 2021.
When construction is completed in the winter of 2025, Kitsap Landing will host 69 new single-family homes, ranging from about 1,300 to 1,900 square feet, priced around the middle of $400,000 each, said Samantha Costello, marketing manager for the property’s developer, D.R. Horton.
“Since the community opened for sales, demand has been in line with our expectations,” Costello said, corresponding over email. “Local individuals and families alike have been excited about what Kitsap Landing has to offer.”
Since Kitsap Landing homes opened for sale in January, D.R. Horton has sold nine homes, Costello said.
Trailhead at the Preserve
Just past city limits, tucked between a storage facility and the Illahee Preserve forest at the corner of Fuson Road and Almira Drive, construction workers pour over another apartment complex.
The Trailhead at the Preserve, a new multi-building development at a site once home to a single-residence healing center, will bring 109 one-bedroom and two-bedroom units to the forested corner. Plans feature amenities including a fitness center, outdoor dog park, access to trails at the preserve and a playground area.
Ownership for the Trailhead at the Preserve could not be reached for more details regarding project timelines.
The Narrows at Clare
Just off the north end of the Warren Avenue Bridge at the exit to Lebo Boulevard, a total of 16 new housing units are coming through the Narrows at Clare.
The Narrows at Clare will erect two townhome structures with eight residences each. Each unit is planned to have three levels, a single car garage and a rooftop deck, said Bremerton City planner Justin Rowland.
Site and demolition permits have already been issued, and developers are currently awaiting building permits, Rowland said over email.
Developments like The Narrows at Clare in the Eastside Village area were made more attainable by action from the City made in 2020 and 2022 to increase building height to 80 feet, remove density requirements and streamline environmental permitting through a planned action ordinance with the subarea plan, Wheeler said.
The addition of housing in the neighborhood comes in context of the 20XX closure of the old Harrison Hospital building, just blocks away and long the center of the Eastside Village neighborhood. Housing projects like the Narrows at Clare or a Peninsula Community Health Services apartment complex on Lower Wheaton Way, scheduled to open in 2024, are adding density back to a neighborhood where the former hospital campus itself could become a housing site eventually.
Wheaton Landing
Just north on Wheaton Way, near the
View Ridge Elementary Arts Academy, Wheaton Landing is approaching a warp on construction at the end of April after breaking ground exactly one year ago.
The approximately $6 million apartment complex will feature 23 two-bedroom units, a 500-square-foot commercial space and a live/work unit that doubles as a residence and workspace, said Nick Parodi, president of the property management agency, Fulcrum Real Estate Services.
The units are pre leasing at $1,995 per month plus utilities, Parodi said. Developers have a working relationship with the Bremerton Housing Authority and hope to enter an agreement for the BHA to provide some housing vouchers for potential low-income residents.
Vouchers present a win-win opportunity for tenants for property management alike, Parodi said, as potential members in need of affordable housing can access quality units with subsidy, while property management can still screen potential tenants.
Parodi hopes the two bedroom units will serve families in particular, especially with the complex’s proximity to the elementary school, and military tenants with roommates.
“The site was a fairly easy site to develop and was already zoned appropriately,” Parodi said, also mentioning that eight year tax exemptions from the City for increasing density in the area helped pave the way for development as well.
Fulcrum Real Estate Services will lease a commercial space on the ground floor of Wheaton Landing as a hub as the property management company begins to set a foothold in Kitsap County, Parodi said. Wheaton Landing is one of four new properties that Fulcrum will bring online in Kitsap County, adding to its portfolio of over 2,000 units in the Northwest.
Parodi looks at East Bremerton and sees growth – he just hopes he’s timing it right.
“We’re attracting more and more quality businesses and I think, long term, the area will continue to improve,” he said. “I’m hoping that we’re not too early in that process, that people will want to live right there.”
While close to the busy traffic of Wheaton Way, new tenants will have quick access to public transportation and a growing menu of commercial options.
“I’m hoping it’ll be just easy living for the residents,” Parodi said.