Source: Kitsap Sun
By: Nathan Pilling
Posted: Apr 27, 2017

POULSBO — A combined business-residential building at the site of the former Poulsbo police station on Hostmark Street is being proposed by Sound West Group.

On Wednesday night at City Hall, the company unveiled plans for a three-story structure, which would house 25 residential units and about 2,000 square feet of business/retail space. Parking and business space would be on the first floor with residential units on the second and third floors, according to Mike Brown with Sound West.

The city owns the 0.6-acre property, which had a market value of about $619,000 in 2014, according to county records. The sale of the property to Sound West Group is contingent on the company getting approvals through the city Planning Department, completing a public outreach process and working through any potential appeals, Mayor Becky Erickson said.

Brown said Sound West Group was attracted to the site because of a demand the company saw in Poulsbo and because of the location, which is within walking distance of downtown stores and features views of the Olympic Mountains and Liberty Bay.

“It’s a beautiful site,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of work in Poulsbo, and we’re going to do a lot more.”

Brown estimated construction likely will begin in spring 2018 and will take about a year. The building will have six studio apartments, 16 one-bedroom apartments and three 2-bedroom apartments, according to architect Miles Yanick.

Brown said the units will be “a little nicer.”

“The projects that we’re doing here and elsewhere, we’re trying to do something that’s not seen in Kitsap County so much,” he said. “We have secured parking, we have elevators, we have a little nicer finishes in the unit.”

Sound West Group has been involved with many local developments, including the recently opened Spyglass Hill Apartments in Bremerton. Rents at that 73-unit building average $1,500 a month.

Acknowledging that the apartments will be expensive, Erickson said they’ll be part of building a diversity of housing stocks in the area.

“Sound West Group, they’re a good, reliable, local company that has done some pretty remarkable work in Kitsap County,” she said. “I’m glad they’re participating in Poulsbo. That’s good news for us.”