Current and Upcoming Projects

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Liberty Bank Building
In partnership with Community Roots Housing (formerly Capital Hill Housing), the Liberty Bank Building is Africatown’s first endeavor in affordable development. Opening in 2018, LBB holds 115 units of affordable housing, which was affirmatively marketed to the black community. The bottom floor is reserved retail space for black-owned business including Earl’s barbershop and Communion on Union restaurant. 

The building rests on the site of the former Liberty Bank, the first Black-owned bank in the Pacific Northwest, founded in 1968 as a community response to redlining and disinvestment in Central Seattle. For 20 years, Liberty Bank provided essential financial services to people and businesses who were otherwise unable to obtain them. Liberty Bank represented resilience and empowerment and stood as an example of a community’s solution to systemic, institutional racism.

Africatown Plaza
Africatown Community Land Trust and Community Roots Housing are deepening their partnership through the Africatown Plaza project at 23rd and Spring St. The project addresses affordability, displacement, and gentrification in the Central District. The Plaza will provide 126 affordable rental apartments available to families making 30-60% of the area median income. The ground floor and outside space will host a public art project curated to honor the legacy of black families in the Central District. The plaza will also include retail space for local black-owned business and a community space for use by residents. 

The William Grose Center for Cultural Innovation

As part of the city’s Equitable Development Initiative, ACLT has revitalized one of Seattle’s historic landmarks in the Central District, Firestation 6, by converting it into a hub for entrepreneurship, technological innovation, as well as business development in Seattle’s Black community. ACLT’s goal is to establish an ecosystem for economic empowerment and community-driven development.  The William Grose Center will be the cornerstone of that ecosystem. The programs and resources at WGC will provide the community with opportunities to step into new roles in the economy. 

Firestation 6 is located on the corner of 23rd and Yesler. Programs hosted from the William Gross Center are the Creative Pipeline, a High School completion program, Black Dot programming, and more. The center opened  in September 2022.

To learn about ways to support ACLT’s mission to acquire, develop, and steward land in the Central District and to honor the legacy of the Black community through our projects, please visit our donate page.