Yesterday, I noticed a story about a senior apartment complex in south Seattle, that was being renovated into a “Smart Neighborhood”. This apartment complex has been around since the 1960s, and it started out as a “low-income” complex. We all know that those “low-income” apartments always suffer from lack of maintenance and that upgrades are rare. Families tend to stay in their apartments for many years, and resist any rent increases. In general, landlords aren’t fond of them, since their income from rents is often stagnant.
This apartment complex was purchased by Brighton Communities, a non-profit entity. Here’s the article from KOMO. I have added emphasis myself.
SEATTLE — A senior housing complex in Seattle is undergoing a major renovation aimed at preserving affordability while transforming the property into a technology-driven “smart neighborhood,” backed in part by a $3.5 million grant from Amazon.
Brighton Communities, a nonprofit housing developer, is leading the effort at its Brighton Apartments campus on Rainier Avenue S. The project focuses on seniors aged 65 and older earning well below the area median income.
Executive Director Curtis Brown said the goal extends beyond housing.
“We are building a whole ecosystem that makes Seattle affordable,” Brown said.The multi-year renovation will upgrade aging infrastructure at the complex, which was originally built in 1968 to house flight crews commuting to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.The property later fell into disrepair before Brighton Communities purchased it in 1999 and converted it into senior housing.
Today, the campus includes more than 120 units and remains fully occupied, with demand making it difficult for new residents to secure a spot.
Renovation work includes replacing plumbing systems, upgrading elevators and completing full unit remodels. Much of the work is being done while residents remain in place.
“We’re basically re-piping the units with the residents still in the units,” Brown said.The Amazon grant is funding key improvements such as replacing aging building systems, adding energy-efficient infrastructure, and making accessibility upgrades. Additional support comes from the city of Seattle, Seattle City Light, and Seattle Public Utilities, which are contributing to sustainability and efficiency efforts.
Those include installing heat pumps to move away from gas, upgrading lighting, adding charging stations, and piloting water sensors and rainwater reuse systems.
Beyond physical upgrades, Brighton Communities is working to integrate services that reduce residents’ daily expenses. The organization has partnered with more than 250 local and national groups to provide resources such as internet access, medication delivery, health care visits, food services, and transportation options.
“Everything that we do every day is trying to drive down the costs of living in Seattle and increasing the purchasing power of our residents,” Brown said.
The next phase of the project will convert the site into what developers call a “smart neighborhood,” using artificial intelligence and connected technologies to manage building systems and improve quality of life.
An AI-powered platform will link utilities, sensors, cameras and other systems to monitor conditions in real time.
“If any small thing happens in the building, from a leak to insects to a senior falling, we’ll be able to manage everything from the building,” Brown said.The technology will also support a multilingual digital assistant to help residents navigate services in a community where roughly 20 languages are spoken.
The smart neighborhood initiative is being developed in partnership with technology companies including BizzTech and NVIDIA, using digital twin modeling and AI-driven analytics to improve efficiency and reduce environmental impact.
Brown said the broader vision is to stabilize neighborhoods facing displacement pressures by combining housing with services and community investment.
“Our slogan is buy, build and own a neighborhood,” he said. “We want the families who already live here to be ready that when development happens, they are not pushed out.”
The 5-acre campus is also expanding, with plans to add new homeownership opportunities nearby.
Brown said the model depends on integrating seniors into the surrounding community rather than isolating them.
“The way you make senior housing work is you build a neighborhood around it and you make the seniors an integral part of the neighborhood,” he said.
Brighton Communities hopes the project can serve as a blueprint for similar developments across Seattle and beyond.
Now, when I read phrases like “artificial intelligence”, “smart neighborhood”, and “manage everything”, my tyranny detector jumps into action. We have heard of the concept of “smart cities”, where surveillance is 24/7, and residents are not permitted to roam very far from their own neighborhoods. Supposedly, everything they need is available right in the neighborhood, so going very far afield would not be needed. Residents would not be allowed to own their own cars, and would be forced to use “public” transportation.
The City of Seattle and the State of Washington have been trying to get residents out of their cars and into public transportation for decades, but the population has been very resistant. This neighborhood might be the beginning of a trend to institute the kind of total surveillance that they have always wanted. Communists do this, and Seattle has just elected a Socialist Mayor. Since this complex’s owner has a grant from Amazon, it’s not too far afield to speculate that every apartment will have a RING doorbell camera, controlled from the complex office, not from each individual apartment.
Now, the renovations might also remove control of interior temperatures of individual units by installing heat pumps in the buildings, and I see NEST smart thermostat in each unit too. Since they are connected to the internet, the management would know what each unit’s temperatures were set at, and might be able to turn them up and down, with or without the consent of the resident. Note also the “water sensors” and “rainwater reuse systems” that are planned. Might that water sensor tell the landlord that you are using too much water, and reduce your allocation? Charging stations might mean that only electric vehicles might be allowed.
Since the residents are elderly, they might be more likely to approve of any new technology that promises them that they will be safer in their units than they might otherwise be, but they might not see far enough ahead to notice or care about their loss of individual freedom. That is unknown right now, but it has me wondering.
Speaking of Public Safety Drones, a new startup company has just relocated to Seattle, bringing with it about 250 employees to be hired.
Yes, welcome to the dystopian future of “public safety”. 24/7 surveillance and control. We know that that’s what the DemocRats who rule us today want, the sooner the better.
Not if I have anything to say about it!
Calling-all-RushBabes 
As always, great content!
Thank you!