Mount Zion Housing Development (MZHD) moves into its new offices
September 1, 2021
MZHD has long sought to have a physical presence in the community in which it serves. Its dream was finally realized when development company found its home at 1604 19th Ave. and it only had to look around the corner to a vacant building on the campus of Mount Zion Baptist Church. The renting of this building will benefit Mount Zion Church by putting a vacant building to good use and in giving visiblility to MZHD’s presence in the community. 1604 helps fulfill the mission of the development company and helps to further the mission of Mount Zion Baptist Church by providing a basic human necessity to a segment of the population that is often neglected and forgotten. In addition, many in this population has been shut out of the Central District by gentrification and can no longer afford to live in the neighborhood in which they have cultural ties. MZHD hopes to remedy some of these issues and having a physical building allows it to better serve residents of the Central District.
Mount Zion Housing Breaks Ground for new Senior Facility
August 18, 2021
Mount Zion Housing Development (MZHD) recently broke ground on August 18, 2021, on its latest project at 1722 19th Avenue. The new site will provide 61 new senior apartments for residents of the Central District. The project had been in the planning, design and permitting stages for the last 3 years and was the vision of the Board of Director’s President, Wallace Johnson for several years prior to that time. The new project is just northwest of MZHD’s other senior facility at 1916 E Madison Street. That project was developed in 2000 and was named in honor of the late pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church, Rev. Dr. Samuel Berry McKinney. Rev. McKinney was also one of the founding board members of MZHD. Like its predecessor, the new project will house seniors and veterans and rents will be commensurate with salaries of low-income residents. The groundbreaking ceremony occurred with many of the funders who participated in the funding of the project in attendance. Major funders for the project included Seattle Office of Housing, King County Office of Housing, Banner Bank, and WCRA. Many city and state officials were in attendance including Mayor elect Bruce Harrell and former State Representative from the 37th District Eric Pettigrew.
Topping off Celebration for new Senior Facility
February 17, 2023
Mount Zion Housing Development is pleased to announce completion of the framing for the Nineteenth Avenue project at 1722 19TH Avenue. The Topping Off Ceremony on 2/17/2023, was hosted by Deacon Construction, a contractor that is committed to diversity and whose performance has been outstanding despite rain, wintry weather, labor strikes, material shortages and price hikes. Our funding was secured by: City of Seattle office of Housing, Washington State Dept. of Commerce, King County office of Housing, Impact Capital, WRCA and Banner Bank. Ally Community Development and Rolluda Architect were instrumental in navigating us through the fluctuation of materials cost & construction strikes.