Developer urges council to approve docketing for Redmond ‘Flex’ site to allow residential and affordable housing

Columbia Pacific Advisors urged the Redmond City Council on Aug. 4 to approve docketing and a split-zoning update for the property known as the Redmond Flex site (6901 180th Avenue NE), saying that docketing is a necessary first step to allow study of residential development, including affordable housing.

Rebecca Bloom, chief investment officer with Columbia Pacific Real Estate / Columbia Pacific Advisors Real Estate Equity Strategy, told the council her firm owns the property at 6901 180 Eighth Avenue Northeast (referred to as the Redmond Flex site) and supports adding the proposal to the city’s annual comprehensive amendment review docket so the planning commission and council can study the requested split-zoning update this year. Bloom said residential uses on the site would “complement the neighborhood adjacencies, like Southeast Redmond Park and property owned by the Lake Washington School District,” and provide flexibility to develop housing, including affordable units.

Earlier in the meeting the council approved a consent agenda by roll call. The consent agenda, which passed 7–0, included ordinance number 3225, described in the meeting as “an ordinance of the city of Redmond Washington setting the framework and conducting concurrent review of the cumulative effect of all proposed amendments” to the Redmond comprehensive plan and related amendments for the 2025–2026 annual docket. Rebecca Bloom urged the council to approve the final docket as drafted so Columbia Pacific’s proposal can be formally reviewed this year.

No vote specific to the Redmond Flex site docketing was recorded beyond the consent adoption of the overall ordinance establishing the docket review framework. Bloom said docketing is a “crucial step in the process” that would permit study by the planning commission and council in 2025.

The public-record materials cited at the meeting identify the site’s proximity to Southeast Redmond Park and Lake Washington School District property; Bloom did not provide project-level designs or an affordable-housing unit count. The ombuds report later in the meeting noted a letter from Columbia Pacific Advisors referencing the same property and docket request.

Next steps for the developer and the city are: staff review under the city’s comprehensive amendment process, study by the planning commission, and subsequent council consideration. Any later rezoning, land-use approval or development proposal would be subject to the city’s public-review, environmental-review and permitting processes, and any housing affordability commitments would be specified at a later planning or development-review phase.