12th & Spruce Groundbreaking

Plymouth Housing and St. Francis House have broken ground on a new building at 12th and Spruce! Plymouth is excited to partner with an organization that shares our vision for meeting the basic needs of all people in our city with dignity and respect.

St. Francis House is an incredible nonprofit organization that also serves people experiencing homelessness. For more than 50 years, they have provided basic necessities, like clothes and food, to the people who need them. On top of that, they provide another essential: a sense of community. Those who use St. Francis House’s services are also provided with coffee, snacks, and a peaceful moment to mingle with volunteers and other visitors.

The former St. Francis House building, which had been home to the organization since the 1980s.

 

This site at 12th and Spruce has been home to St. Francis House since the 1980s. However, as St. Francis House has grown to serve 13,000 people in 2019, their old building no longer suited their needs. For this reason, Plymouth was selected in 2017 to help redevelop the site. By joining together on this project, both organizations will further our respective missions.

The fourth building of our PROOF Campaign, 12th and Spruce will provide 100 apartments to people who have experienced long-term homelessness, as well as three apartments for live-in staff. Many of the residents at 12th and Spruce will be veterans. The building will feature a nurse’s office, outdoor community space, and a wonderful location at the convergence of the First Hill, Yesler Terrace, and Central District neighborhoods.

Rendering of the future building at 12th and Spruce, which is currently under construction.

 

St. Francis House will operate on the first floor of the building, in a space designed to meet their unique needs. With more space to display donations, visitors to St. Francis House will be able browse donations for more of a “shopping” experience, which has not been possible recently in their previous space. In addition, the building will also include a nice outdoor area for visitors to use as they wait to enter.

Through this partnership, the Plymouth Housing and St. Francis House communities will merge and strengthen. We’re grateful to build on the decades of history that this site has, and we look forward to the decades of service to come.

Thank you for joining us in celebrating this development, which will bring so much opportunity to both organizations, the people we serve, and the whole city of Seattle when it opens in 2022.

Who will live at 12th & Spruce?

The 100 residents of 12th and Spruce will have experienced long-term homelessness before finding permanent homes at Plymouth. Many 12th and Spruce residents will be veterans, like current Plymouth resident Bruce!

Meet Bruce

Thank you to everyone who has supported 12th and Spruce!

Funders

City of Seattle Office of Housing

Plymouth’s PROOF Campaign Donors

Washington State Housing Trust Fund

National Equity Fund

Capital One

St. Francis House

Washington State Housing Finance Commission

Federal Home Loan Bank

Sound Community Bank

Partners

SMR Architects

St. Francis House

W.G. Clark Construction

4EA Building Science

Fazio Associates Landscape Architects

Kantor Taylor

KPFF

PanGEO

Reid Middleton