Chris Hansen has completed a purchase of more than four acres of land that have been a part of his stymied plan to build a basketball/hockey arena in Sodo, according to public property records filed with the city and first reported by KING5’s Chris Daniels.
Whether it means the project has new life isn’t clear. In April, the City Council denied the request of the Seattle native and San Francisco hedge fund manager to vacate a portion of Occidental Avenue, a surprising development that seemed to doom the four-year-old plan to return NBA basketball to Seattle.
But Hansen said in a statement on his arena website that he wasn’t done. A source confirmed recently to Sportspress Northwest that there have been conversations between Hansen’s camp and city employees, but no alternatives have emerged publicly.
The land, purchased for $32 million, had been optioned by Hansen some time ago and was included in the draft plans presented to the council. It runs from South Holgate Street to Walker Street along First Avenue South, has a warehouse and four other buildings, and would be the site primarily of the arena’s parking garage.
KING reported that the sale price is three times the property’s assessed value, and brings the investment to 12.26 acres at a cost of $97.2 million.
Since Hansen already controlled the land, the purchase could be seen as a normal conclusion to the transaction. Should no plan emerge for an arena by the November 2017 expiration of a memorandum of understanding with the city, Hansen could sell the real estate and recoup much of his investment.
Since the NBA has indicated no interest in expansion or relocation, the NHL remains a possibility. But since Hansen said he has no interest in owning a hockey team, a prospective owner also willing to partner with Hansen in arena construction has not emerged.
One change since the council vote was seen as a positive for Hansen’s original plans. The federal government agreed to give the Lander Street Bridge project $40 million, bringing to $100 million the committed funds needed for the $140 million project. The Port of Seattle, Hansen’s chief opponent because of freight mobility concerns, has long sought the overpass as a way to mitigate port congestion problems.
If Hansen and the port, along with other area users, were to help close the funding gap and get the bridge built, the thought was that a revived arena project might win approval.
6 Comments
The option would have expired next march so he had to buy it out right but my feeling is why would hansen spend the $$$ to exercise the option if he feel there is no way he is going to convince the SCC to change their mind.
By not exercising it and not renewing the option on it, he would lose access to the land to where someone else let say port of seattle for example could buy it and making it impossible for hansen to convince SCC to change their mind.
I suspect he has an idea, but the purchase keeps the entire parcel together in the event of resale.
Another thing the MOU is only needed if hansen wants city and county to provide public financing for the arena.
If Hansen with a NHL backer decide to go 100% private, the MOU and the 2017 expiration date is meaningless. Another thought i have is that by going all private for sodo arena, it may change a no vote into a yes vote. There were a couple issues brought up by a no’s about the public financing part of it.
Yes. A fully private construction requires only the street vacation from council. MOU would be mostly irrelevant. But Hansen said originally he can’t make the arena pencil without the loan.
I don’t think Hasnen goes all private with out an NHL backer helping foot the cost.
remember when Paul Allen bought all the land in South Lake Union and offered it to Seattle as a park to be known as The Commons? The people of Seattle voted it down and Paul made a fortune by developing it(not that he needed another fortune). Could Mr Hansen be doing something similar? Does he anticipate the SoDo area being the next big boomtown development area?