The ground has just been broken for the A.L. Humphrey House building, and kudos are due to the team at Stickney, Murphy and Romine Architects, who pioneered this affordable housing project for the Plymouth Housing Group. Plymouth Housing Group is well regarded for their mission to provide safe, durable, affordable housing for people who might otherwise be homeless.

Humphrey House is certainly well built. It uses energy-efficient lighting fixtures throughout, high efficiency gas fired hydronic heating and domestic hot water system, with individual thermostats, a drought tolerant sidewalk landscaping, “Energy Star” rated kitchen and laundry appliances, very well insulated exterior envelope, and low wattage down-lighting at alley exterior to increase safety and to minimize light pollution. This building meets the State of Washington Evergreen Sustainable Development Standard and Abossein provided the civil, mechanical, electrical, and fire safety engineering for this project.

The apartments are 250 sf, containing full kitchens, bathrooms, closets, windows, with outlets for data and voice lines. The apartments are intended to offer the residents everything one could expect in a standard, comfortable home environment. In addition to 84 studio apartments, AL Humphrey House will also offer a community space, a TV room, a computer room, a bike storage room, and support services for residents. The remainder of the first floor is available for retail space and a full service restaurant and will help supplement the cost of the building. The building‘s general contractor is Marpac Construction LLC ,and it is expected to be available for occupancy in September, 2010.