Issaquah residents recently caught a glimpse of what an empty parcel of land in the Issaquah Highlands will look like after the YWCA has finished with it.

The city, along with help from YWCA officials, hosted an open house at Blakely Hall last month to answer any questions and show residents how the YWCA Family Village at Issaquah is developing.

Linda Hall, YWCA director of housing development, estimated that a half a dozen people attended the meeting. She also received a handful of e-mails and written comments after the fact.

“We’ve received a lot of positive feedback from residents, and it’s definitely related to the overall development,” she said.

The Family Village will be made up of 146 rental apartments for tenants earning 50 percent of less of King County’s median income — $40,700 annually for a family of four — and will be available to families, people with disabilities and seniors.

Officials estimate that about one-third of the tenants will be “very low-income,” or a family of four that earns $24,000 annually. Fifteen percent of the units will be set aside for those earning up to $48,000 annually for a family of four, and five units will be designated for people transitioning from homelessness to permanent housing.

Once building is underway and applications are being accepted, Hall said potential tenants will undergo a criminal background check. Applications won’t be accepted until about six months before the complex opens, but in the meantime the YWCA is taking names of interested people, she said.

Officials are expecting about 400 people — 210 adults and 190 children — to live in the village, which will be made up of six studio apartments, 41 one-bedrooms, 70 two-bedrooms and 33 three-bedrooms.

The apartments will be clustered in three buildings, ranging in height from three to four floors. Plans also call for a childcare center, a community center, and offices for YWCA employees.

Hall and other officials provided all this information, plus several 3D models of what the development will look like, to community members. She also said that the YWCA plans to host a second open house within the next several months to keep people updated on all steps.

“We’re committed to good communication with the community,” she said. “We want people to know what’s going on with this project.”

The YWCA Family Village will be built on about two acres at the corner of Northeast High Street and Highlands Drive Northeast; the city transferred the rights to the land to the YWCA about a year ago, at no cost.

Hall said they hope to break ground by the end of the year, and see a finished project in 2011.

“We’re working very hard to ensure that we stay on schedule, and I think we’re doing a great job of it,” she said. “We’re moving forward, getting our permitting and financing in line, and everything is just going so well.”

For more information on the YWCA Family Village at Issaquah, go to www.ywcaworks.org.