01 / The corner before completion
A construction report from November 2004
Moss Bay Neighborhood Association's November 2004 meeting notes recorded demolition of the previous building at this corner and construction underway on Kirkland Central. The description anticipated five stories, approximately 9,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and 110 condominiums. Planned homes ranged from 474 to 1,251 square feet, showing that compact residences were part of the program from the outset. The notes expected completion in June 2006.
02 / The building team
Johnson Braund above a concrete base
Johnson Braund designed Kirkland Central for Continental Properties. Continental describes five-story wood-frame construction over concrete parking. The developer's description distinguishes the wood-framed building from its concrete parking base. The street-level commercial component and residential floors share one development, while serving different daily functions. Reading the building from its base upward helps explain its composition: garage infrastructure, space for businesses, homes and elevated outdoor space, all arranged on a compact downtown site.
03 / The first sales
Eighty homes on opening day
Continental's project history reports 80 condominium sales on Kirkland Central's opening day in 2005, a substantial initial response within a 110-home development. The same company's completed-projects list assigns it a 2005 completion date. City planning records and current listing data use 2006 as the building year, consistent with the period anticipated in the earlier neighborhood report. These sources document a 2005 sales launch and a building commonly recorded as 2006. Eighty sales represented nearly three-quarters of the planned homes, making that opening a prominent event in Continental's account of the project.
04 / The public frontage
A residential address and commercial doors
A 2013 Colliers leasing brochure documents the commercial side as the Kirkland Central Condominium Building at 223 Kirkland Avenue. Its site plan places commercial spaces along Kirkland Avenue and identifies the residential portion behind them, with State Street South and First Avenue South establishing the block's edges. The particular offering was a 940-square-foot office or retail suite, with structured employee parking advertised. That historical plan explains why the building has a more active street edge than a development consisting entirely of homes. The separate residential and commercial addresses preserve that division in everyday use.
05 / An unexpected civic role
The garage became a planning case study
Kirkland Central later helped inform a City discussion about parking for new downtown housing. A transportation study included in the January 2015 Council packet used this building and the Watermark Apartments as local comparisons for a proposal at 324 Central Way. Surveyors counted parked vehicles after 10 p.m. on two days in March 2014. The study reported an on-site parking rate of 0.98 vehicles per home. The study also recognized the difficulty of assigning nearby street parking to particular residents. It is an unusually concrete record of how the building was used, but remains a historical survey rather than a measure of current parking availability.
06 / Shared spaces over time
The terrace, the lobby and the podium
A 2026 NWMLS listing reports onsite management, two elevators, a fitness room and a common outdoor terrace, with concierge included among association services. Continental's original program also listed business and conference space. The podium has a separate documented maintenance history: permit PUB26-05570, issued October 22, 2026, describes replacement of second-level landscaping and waterproofing following water leakage into commercial space, together with restoration of associated improvements. The public record was marked Issued when reviewed, with no final date shown. That establishes the permitted scope; it does not establish completion, an owner assessment, present disruption or current terrace access.
