The resounding success of the Tashiro Kaplan Artist Lofts whetted Seattle’s appetite for a second Artspace live/work project. The result was the Artspace Hiawatha Lofts, a 61-unit building in the Jackson Place neighborhood on the southern fringe of downtown Seattle and just a block from the light rail line. Built at a cost of $17.1 million, the Hiawatha is a four-story building with an expansive exterior courtyard and a large community room that accommodates a variety of uses, including performances and lectures/demonstrations by Hiawatha tenants.
Designed to recall the industrial buildings that formerly dominated the northern end of the Rainier Valley, it has large windows, high ceilings, and durable surfaces that accommodate a wide variety of creative uses. It has 4,975 square feet of ground floor commercial space facing Hiawatha Place; among the tenants are Artspace’s Seattle office, Cafe Weekend, and My World Dance & Fitness. The Hiawatha meets the Seattle Office of Housing’s SeaGreen Standards — equivalent to LEED certification — for energy efficiency.
Located a block from the proposed east link light rail line scheduled for completion in 2020, and a short walk from Seattle’s lively International District, the Hiawatha is a welcome addition to a neighborhood with many cultural assets, including the Pratt Fine Arts Center, home to glass-blowers, sculptors, jewelers, and printmakers; the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center; and the Japanese Cultural and Community Center.
