Local leaders like King County Executive Dow Constantine and MLK Labor Council’s Nicole Grant backed the WSCC in their request and emphasized that thousands of jobs were at stake. The estimate cited throughout the presentation fluctuated based on how many indirect jobs were lumped in with figures. Griffin said about 1,000 construction workers would be on site in 10 to 12 months when the funds are expected to run out and force the project to pause.

Executive Constantine seemed to emphasize both regional vitality and strength and the vulnerability that the convention center represents if it was not completed: “There are few [projects] that are more important to the region than the Convention Center Addition.”

“We have one of the best economies in the world here. We’re a hub of innovation that connects the rest of the region and the rest of the world,” Constantine said. “Delaying the project would have devastating effects on the construction industry and the hospitality industry… It would have a ripple effect across the region.”

Those ripple effects also include timely payments on the $161 million land sale Executive Constantine authorized on behalf of King County. The convention center is rising from the former footprint of the County-owned Convention Place bus station.

“On behalf of the workers we represent, I want to say the completion of the convention center is a major priority,” Grant said. “There is no way to stop this work. We must persevere. That is why I’m appealing, really appealing to our federal delegation…”

While not invited on the call, former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn criticized the WSCC Addition project and publicly questioned the value of bailing it out.

“Business powerbrokers will claim today in a press conference that a bailout for the Convention Center Expansion is essential to Seattle’s economy,” McGinn tweeted. “But what if, hear me out, expansion is just digging a deeper financial hole?”

McGinn argued the WSCC should show their math on public returns before receiving any infusion of public funds. The pandemic could sap demand for convention space for years to come, both because people won’t feel safe in large gatherings and because the economy may take a long time to recover.

“With hotel occupancy at 20%, and airlines travel plummeting, is now a good time to expand the convention center?” McGinn mused. “Do you believe airline travel and conventions are just going to ‘bounce back’? If they don’t, and there is a permanent reduction in demand, what then?”

While convention center backers are forging ahead with making it a bailout priority, we really are in a time of glaring needs on many fronts. National unemployment is above 15%, millions are struggling to make rent and pay their bills, and many public transit agencies face financial crises of their own. McGinn made the case that the hundreds of millions needed for the WSCC Addition could be better spent elsewhere, with essential services being top priority.

In contrast to McGinn, attendees portrayed the convention center as an economic cornerstone for the region, temporarily brought low by the pandemic but ready to come roaring back and serve as an economic catalyst during the recovery.

Griffin and Visit Seattle CEO Tom Norwalk emphasized that they expected the convention business to rebound quickly. Norwalk said they had sold 22 pieces of business for the WSCC Addition ahead of its 2022 opening. However, the WSCC lost 26 national conventions to cancelations this year, he said. “Most of the groups are looking at future dates,” Norwalk said. “It’s another sign of the optimism and future planning that still takes place.”

Downtown Seattle Association President Jon Scholes said on the call that delaying the project would be a “triple whammy.” It would lead to fewer visitors, tax revenues, and jobs.

Thus far, the WSCC has issued about $1.3 billion in bonds off future hotel tax revenue to fund project costs. Griffin said the WSCC had planned to issue more bonds this year before Covid hit and made that untenable due to cratering hotel tax revenues and a loss of interest from lenders, hence the appeal to Congress. Construction is about 30% done.

Feedback from Washington’s Congressional delegation has been positive, Griffin said, namedropping Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and a handful of Representatives. Going public with the request was intended to underscore how big of a priority the convention center is across industries and in local government, he said.

Time will tell if that call for help will translate into federal aid. For now, federal lawmakers seem far from a deal and quibbling over whether Democratic or Republican states would stand to benefit most from the next bailout package.

The post Convention Center Seeks $300 Million Federal Bailout to Complete $1.8 Billion Expansion first appeared on The Urbanist.

The WSCC has argued that short-term rentals have been drawing business away from traditional hotels and have hurt the lodging tax revenue that goes directly to the WSCC, necessitating the tax expansion. A quick look at WSCC annual reports show that from 2011 to 2016 (the same years that saw the rise of Airbnb and other vacation rental services) lodging tax revenue has grown from $48 million, to more than $77 million, a 60% increase. The tax revenue given to the WSCC has grown dramatically over the past five years, despite attendance remaining flat for the past 20 years even after major expansions doubled the size of the facility.

The tax increase is not driven by short-term rentals evading lodging taxes, but by the tacked on approach to public benefit and expanding scope of the project. A project with this amount of public money behind it, and a blank slate of four downtown blocks unencumbered by intervening streets and alleys could have created a positive transformation of the physical form and utility of this space, as other street and alley vacation proposals have done. Instead, the WSCC is using that contiguous block area to build just shy of 800 parking stalls at or above grade, as well as a truck loading facility with a curb cut double the size of what is typically allowed in downtown Seattle; all of this with the larger purpose of contributing to the nationwide convention center arms race that builds as much exhibition and ballroom space as possible with no consideration for what the surrounding community actually needs. The cash payment approach to public benefits increases the project cost, without improving the project for those who have to navigate around it.

Beverly Barnett, manager of right-of-way vacations for the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), commented at a Seattle Design Commission meeting last spring that “A lot of the public benefit is being pushed to the perimeter or offsite. Our goal, looking at street vacations and a street vacation public benefit, is to make sure there are on-site amenities that make the experience for the general public moving through and around the site really important.”

Even with the large cash payments, the project barely gained approval from the Seattle Design Commission, the agency that reviews street and alley vacations before passing recommendations to City Council. In a 4-3 vote, dissenting commissioners noted the lack of even trying to create benefits on-site. Commissioner Rachel Gleeson stated, ”My main disagreement has to do with whether the site itself was ever considered for the onsite public benefit elements that we would expect to see on a project this size.” Commission chair Ross Tilghman added, “This is a project of exceptional size, location, and vacation requests and it has asked for exceptions at every point in the review process. When we have granted exceptions on past projects we have had good reasons to do so, but here the hand is simply forced.”

Additionally, rather than using this project to help solve downtown problems, the WSCC’s construction schedule is creating new ones. The WSCC’s current plan for early closure of Convention Place Station and bus access to the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel as early as spring 2019 has led transportation planners from across the region to scramble to try to find a way to keep commuters moving through downtown Seattle. The One Center City plan has been under development to help mitigate the “period of maximum constraint,” brought about in large part because of the WSCC’s disruptions. Unfortunately, One Center City planning has stalled leaving all modes of downtown surface transportation (pedestrians, bikes, buses, cars) bracing for years of increased crowding on already overcrowded streets, but the WSCC moves forward on the claim of future economic benefit.

The WSCC has argued that the expansion itself is a public benefit that will stimulate economic activity through out of town visitors coming to events. However, their own reporting of economic impacts leaves some gaping discrepancies. The 2016 WSCC annual report noted 311,136 room nights generated by events at the WSCC, but also lists direct visitor spending on lodging at $149.1 million. This equates to an estimated average of $479 per hotel room night, even though Kidder Matthews Real Estate estimated the average of downtown Seattle hotel prices in 2016 to be $218 per night, and the General Services Administration sets seasonally adjusted per diem reimbursement maximums between $157 and $202 per night. Any claims of economic benefit should be closely examined, as exaggerations run rampant throughout the WSCC’s marketing materials as well as the national convention industry.

Further, the WSCC consistently claims that it has turned away as much business as it has booked over the past five years, but KUOW pointed out the large amount of exaggeration that goes into that claim. The WSCC has also stated that it needs a separate facility to offset event set up and takedown between events, however, the current WSCC already has this ability through two separate, but connected exhibition halls, loading facilities and entrances made possible through previous aerial street vacations. These vacations left Capitol Hill residents with a view of a loading ramp over Pike Street as their gateway to downtown. As for the economic return on granting those vacations, according to WSCC annual reports, in 1997 (prior to doubling in size and adding a separate exhibition and loading facility), the WSCC hosted 40 national/international events that attracted 204,373 attendees, and 305 local/regional events that attracted 275,400 attendees. In 2016, the facility hosted 50 national/international events, but they only attracted 167,845 attendees, and the 285 local/regional events attracted just 230,011 attendees. The facility is far from full, and there’s no evidence more, very expensive space will lead to an equivalent amount of increased economic activity.

The post Convention Center Hotel Tax Expansion Hits Some Homeless People Hard first appeared on The Urbanist.

• Senate Bill 5450 directs the State Building Code Council to adopt rules for the use of cross-laminated timber products in residential and commercial development. The direction is general by not prescribing any specific methods, but adoption of such rules will need to be a consideration in promulgating building standards for the state.
• House Bill 1085 allows cities and counties to eliminate or reduce minimum floor space requirements for detached single-family homes. The State Building Code Council prescribes minimums. For instance, the state-adopted 2015 version of the International Residential Code prescribes a minimum of 70 square feet and no dimension less than 7 feet wide for habitable bedrooms.
• House Bill 2015 allows the Washington State Convention Center (WSCC) to apply the King County lodging tax (7% in Seattle, 2.8% elsewhere in the county, in addition to state and local sales and use taxes) on all lodging uses, including hotels and motels with fewer than 60 units, except in four instances. The tax won’t be applicable to lodging uses in a town with less than 300 residents, any hostels, or lodging uses associated with University of Washington Medicine. The tax will also apply to short-term vacation rentals, except in Seattle where a tax was recently imposed. Seattle is allowed to repeal its short-term vacation rental tax and defer to the Washington State Convention Center to impose a tax instead. In exchange for this, the tax collected in the city would be distributed back to the city in full and must be used for the Equitable Development Initiative and affordable housing programs program. King County is also eligible to receive additional funding under the expanded lodging tax. Seemingly this bill closes a funding gap for the WSCC Addition making it full steam ahead for the $1.6 billion-dollar project and its $83 million in public benefits.

• House Bill 1570 addresses housing and assistance for homeless people in several ways. Firstly, it increases the recording fee on documents like deeds and plats from $40 to $62 and makes it permanent. $10 from the document recording fee is dedicated to homeless housing and assistance programs and plans in counties. Counties can also use proceeds from the document recording feet to pay off bonds used for homeless housing. Several other policy changes are addressed by the bill, such as requiring state and local homeless housing plans to be updated every five years instead of every 10 years and establishing more specific analysis, data collection, planning, and implementation methods for the state homeless housing strategic plan and local plans.
• House Bill 2538 makes all buildings and structures that provide emergency shelter for victims of domestic abuse or people experiencing homelessness exempt from impact fees such as parks and road impact mitigation fees.
• Senate Bill 6371 increases the Housing Finance Commission debt limit by $2 billion to a total of $8 billion. Debt from the commission is used to help finance housing construction, particularly lower-income housing throughout the state. The bill also modifies the Nonprofit Facilities Program by expanding eligible organizations for low-cost financing to include public development authorities and local governments, local housing authorities, and federally recognized Indian tribes in the state.
• Senate Bill 5143 modifies statute on property tax exemptions for nonprofit housing entities like community land trusts that sale or lease land to lower-income households. The bill specifies that a property tax exemption may be available to the nonprofit developer prior to development and sale of property that will be developed with single-family dwelling units to be lease for at least 99 years or life of the structure to low-income households. The property tax exemption is available up to 10 years, including a three-year extension. The bill will allow property tax exemption to remain in effect through 2028.
• House Bill 2578 modifies the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act by banning housing discrimination based on a tenant’s source of income (e.g., public rental assistance, veterans benefits, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, and retirement income sources). The bill also establishes new statute that specifies violations by a landlord (e.g., discouraging lease, expelling an existing tenant, refusing to show a unit, and charge higher rents) that are grounds for lawsuit by a prospective or current tenant using alternative sources of income. Additionally, a new mitigation program will be created for landlords for reimbursement for claims related to damage by certain tenants. The program will be funded by a housing surcharge on recorded documents, which will rise from $10 to $13 with 40% of the additional $3 going to the program.
• House Bill 2444 eliminates the imposition of real estate excise taxes on property sold to bona fide low-income housing developments or where there is a controlling interest in a qualifying low-income housing development through July 2035. Qualifying low-income housing developments are considered to be projects with real property and improvements for which the seller was allocated Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.
• House Bill 2448 similarly eliminates the imposition of real estate excise taxes on property sold by a legal representative of a person with developmental disabilities to a qualified entity that will provide living assistance to people with developmental disabilities. Qualifying entities including nonprofit companies or family homes that will provide living assistance. Properties transferred without imposition of real estate excise taxes must be made available for people with developmental disabilities for at least 50 years. Additionally, required remodeling and improvements for health and safety could be eligible for state Housing Trust Fund grants.
• House Bill 2382 deals with the surplus process of state property. All state agencies will be required to notify state, local, federal, and tribal agencies and governments of any sale of surplus state land. State or local agencies and governments will be allowed to transfer surplus property to any public or private for affordable housing development on any mutually agreeable terms. The Washington Department of Commerce will be required to work several state agencies (e.g., Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, and Washington State Department of Enterprise Services) to inventory state property that is suitable for development of affordable housing.

By and large, these bills represent positive housing policy changes. Many other worthy bills didn’t make the cut, but there’s always next year.

Cutoff Deadline for State Housing, Transportation, and Environmental Bills Fast Approaching

The post Olympia Passes Housing Bills Advancing Cross Laminated Timber, Homeless Funding, and WSCC Lodging Tax first appeared on The Urbanist.

Our monthly meetup is free and open to everyone. Come by to meet fellow housing and transportation advocates and hear from an inspirational speaker. We’ll be at the Elephant & Castle Pub on Wednesday, November 15, 5:30-7:30 PM (please note this is different than our usual Tuesday). You can find us in the billiards room on the lower level, and our guest speakers start at 6:30 PM.

We hope to see you there! You can optionally RSVP on Facebook to help us get a headcount.

In addition to public benefits proposed by the Convention Center, the Community Package projects are:

• Affordable Housing ($29M)
• Freeway Park Improvements ($10M)
• Lid I-5 Study ($1.5M)
• Pike-Pine Bicycle Improvements ($10M)
• Olive Way Improvements ($0.5M)
• 8th Avenue Bicycle Improvements ($6M)
• Terry Avenue Promenade ($4M)

The post Tomorrow: Meet the Community Package at The Urbanist Meetup first appeared on The Urbanist.

Our monthly meetup is free and open to everyone. Come by to meet fellow housing and transportation advocates and hear from an inspirational speaker. We’ll be at the Elephant & Castle Pub on Wednesday, November 15, 5:30-7:30 PM (please note this is different than our usual Tuesday). You can find us in the billiards room on the lower level, and our guest speakers start at 6:30 PM.

We hope to see you there! You can optionally RSVP on Facebook to help us get a headcount.

In addition to public benefits proposed by the Convention Center, the Community Package projects are:

• Affordable Housing ($29M)
• Freeway Park Improvements ($10M)
• Lid I-5 Study ($1.5M)
• Pike-Pine Bicycle Improvements ($10M)
• Olive Way Improvements ($0.5M)
• 8th Avenue Bicycle Improvements ($6M)
• Terry Avenue Promenade ($4M)

The post November 15: Meet the Community Package at The Urbanist Meetup first appeared on The Urbanist.

On Monday though, the Community Package Coalition–a broad group of local stakeholders advocating for a comprehensive public benefit package–announced that an agreement had been reached with Pine Street Group to fund $82.8 million in local public benefits. The Community Package Coalition had been advocating for approximately $61 million in public benefits for their objectives. Pine Street Group came through on that amount and is offering a further $21.8 million for other projects.

The list of public improvements and facilities is extensive. The biggest share of public benefits will be focused on affordable housing ($29 million). Rounding out the top five projects are improvements to Freeway Park and Pike/Pine pedestrian and bike improvements (all at $10 million). The bulk of the remaining package is focused on pedestrian and bicycle improvements, such as the Terry Avenue Promenade ($4 million), 9th Avenue Pedestrian improvements, and Olive Way Pedestrian improvements. Pine Street Group, however, has committed to other programs in the package with public art ($1.9 million), lighting of historic buildings ($1 million), and a study to lid I-5 ($1.5 million).

Affordable Housing

Voluntary contributions to affordable housing is a big development. Pine Street Group was already required to pay $5 million to King County–which is selling Convention Place to Pine Street Group–and $4.3 million to the City of Seattle as part of incentive zoning for affordable housing. Pine Street Group submitted their development proposal for the Washington State Convention Center expansion long before the Mandatory Housing Affordability program was a thing.

Earlier discussions in the public benefits package had downplayed voluntary affordable housing contributions despite the fact that a significant share of future convention center employees are likely to be lower wage earners necessitating local affordable housing to support the convention center. Note too that the original convention center in the 1990s included the purchase of affordable housing at Olive Tower Apartments as part of the community benefits package. So the $29 million set aside should go a long way toward providing affordable housing, hopefully to future employees.

Freeway Park

Freeway Park—the largest single park in Downtown Seattle—continues to be an underutilized public amenity. The Freeway Park Association has been advocating for improved park entrances, lighting, and wayfinding. $500,000 will be spent next year on some of those items from a Neighborhood Street Fund grant, but $10 million will go a long way toward really turning Freeway Park into the Central Park that it deserves to be. The Capitol Hill Times went into more depth about improvements to Freeway Park last week.

I-5 Study

The benefits package will include $1.5 million to study the feasibility of constructing a lid on I-5 through Seattle’s center city, examining the area from the International District to Lake Union where the demand for new land will be at its peak. The study will also encompass best practices that are happening around the country as other cities begin to cap their urban freeways to stitch their urban centers back together. Studies have shown that constructing an I-5 lid in Downtown Seattle could end up costing around half as much as purchasing similar amounts of developable land near Downtown.

Pike Pine and 8th Avenue Bicycle Improvements

We have been covering plans to install protected bike lanes along Pike and Pine Streets from Second Avenue to Broadway. $10 million for that project will make a critical dent in money needed for those facilities, allowing the Seattle Department of Transportation to invest bicycle master plan funding elsewhere. Eighth Avenue is also planned to be likely the connection between the two protected bike lanes on Pike and Pine and South Lake Union, and $6 million will provide a lot of funding for that project.

Olive Way Improvements

Olive Way is not a pleasant street for people on foot, but it will cut right through the sites planned for the Convention Center expansion. $500,000 will go a long way toward improving the connection between downtown and north Capitol Hill. Last year we explored some possible ways to improve the pedestrian realm on Olive Way.

Terry Avenue Promenade

Not to be confused with the short segment of Terry Avenue that will be vacated underground through the Convention Center expansion, the Terry Avenue promenade will be located along the First Hill segment of Terry. Because land is so expensive in First Hill, the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department has been unable to procure any land in that neighborhood for a new park, already pressed for open space. Utilizing a quiet stretch of Terry Avenue alongside the Frye Art museum, the promenade would pedestrianize the street and encourage users to treat the area more as open space than as street. The full Terry Avenue green street would stretch from Spring Street all the way to Terrace Street.

Pike Pine Renaissance Improvements

The benefits package would also invest an additional $10 million into the Pike Pine Renaissance: Act I improvements that aim to create a contiguous pedestrian experience from Pike Place Market to Melrose Market. We wrote about those improvements last week after the latest set of design proposals were released.

Other Improvements

Pine Street Group will also be investing in $1.9 million worth of public art around the new convention center site as well as $1 million to improve the lighting on historic buildings adjacent to the development site, including the Paramount Theater and the Camlin Hotel.

The convention center expansion is also expected to maintain some on-site public open space that will be accessible to the public, though the designs for that have been evolving as the project goes on. Earlier concerns about access to a rooftop garden for the public via one stairwell and elevator were met with concern by community members, so it will be up to the Seattle Design Commission to determine what moves forward.

Huge Win for Seattle Residents

The $83 million benefits package that will accompany the convention center expansion is a huge accomplishment for those who live and work in north Downtown and Capitol Hill. Thanks to the partner organizations that make up the Community Benefits Package, this public project will truly be providing the full benefits to the community that accompany the relinquishing of public land currently held in public trust.

Next the convention center expansion will go back to the Seattle Design Commission for final approval before moving on to the Sustainability and Transportation Committee at the City Council and then to the full council for approval early next year. Meanwhile, our transportation agencies are still hashing out the details of One Center City, a plan to deal with the closure of the bus tunnel, which would likely be brought on a bit sooner by WSCC Addition construction.

City Tells Convention Center: Addition Public Benefits Are Too Small

The post Convention Center Acquiesces to Coalition with $83 Million Benefits Package first appeared on The Urbanist.

For July we are partnering with the Community Package Coalition. They are a broad alliance of neighborhood organizations and nonprofit advocates seeking key public benefits from the Convention Center expansion, the largest real estate project in Seattle’s history. On this tour, the Coalition will lead us through most of the project locations, including First Hill’s Terry Avenue Promenade, Freeway Park, Pike-Pine protected bike lanes, and the Lid I-5 study area. They’ll also discuss affordable housing opportunities and the project’s proposed on-site benefits.

We’ll also be joined by UNITE HERE, the labor union representing hospitality workers, to discuss how the Convention Center affects the lives of local employees and residents.

We are offering two tour dates and times; the Saturday morning tour is the full experience, and the Friday night tour is a shorter option that will visit fewer project sites. Click one of the links below to register today!

When registering through Eventbrite, please consider a donation of $10 or more per person to support our nonprofit volunteer work. All of The Urbanist’s events and educational programs are free and open to the general public, and we appreciate your support!

Friday Night Tour
When: Friday, July 7, 5.30pm to 6.30pm
Where: Freeway Park, 700 Seneca Street, Seattle
Meeting directions: Meet inside Freeway Park, near the corner of 6th Avenue and Seneca Street, by the large waterfall fountain.
Walking distance: 0.8 miles
Click here to register for the Friday night tour
Facebook RSVP (not official – please click the link above to register)

Saturday Morning Tour
When: Saturday, July 8, 10am to 11.30am
Where: Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave, Seattle
Meeting directions: Meet outside Frye Art Museum at the Corner of Cherry Street and Terry Avenue.
Walking distance: 1.3 miles
Click here to register for the Saturday morning tour
Facebook RSVP (not official – please click the link above to register)

If you have any questions email scott@theurbanist.org. Happy walking!

The post Registration Open: Community Package Tours first appeared on The Urbanist.

Before the City and County accept the WSCC’s claim of a limited budget for public benefit, they should closely examine what private entities with close personal ties to the project have benefited from the WSCC’s $1.6 billion budget so far.  

In March of 2016, after a closed door meeting, on the advice of the project’s developer, Pine Street Group, the WSCC fired the joint venture of Skanska/Hunt which had been selected as general contractor/construction manager (GC/CM) of the project eight months earlier. The WSCC gave vague cost concerns and the team not being a good fit as reasons for termination. Skanska/Hunt sued the WSCC claiming there had been no legitimate grounds for termination, and in the process secured an injunction to prevent the WSCC from hiring another GC/CM bidder from the original bidders. The parties settled the lawsuit in April of 2016 for $7.8 million, and the joint venture of Lease Crutcher Lewis (LCL)/Clark, the second place team in the original selection process, was selected for the project going forward.  

While the selection of the second place team seems logical, the strong personal ties between Pine Street Group and LCL provide a different insight into the termination of Skanska/Hunt. The Seattle Design Commission, the city board that evaluates public benefit packages required for street and alley vacations before they are sent to City Council, lists Jane Lewis as the contact for the WSCC expansion project. Ms. Lewis is a principal at Pine Street Group and is also was previously married to Bill Lewis, former CEO of Lease Crutcher Lewis and current chair of the company’s board of directors. Additionally, according to a 2004 Daily Journal of Commerce profile, Matt Griffin, managing partner of Pine Street Group, and Bill Lewis were college roommates at Princeton. The ties between Pine Street Group and LCL are extremely strong, and all parties were aware that LCL/Clark had been the second place finisher.   

Soon after LCL/Clark was hired, in June of 2016, the WSCC announced an increase in the budget of $200 million bringing the new total to $1.6 billion. The immediate increase in the budget by such a substantial amount, seems highly suspect after cost concerns were given as the main reason for termination. In a June 2016 interview with The Seattle Times, Matt Griffin indicated that the budget increase happened before the new GC/CM was selected, and that the increase reflected “basically what things cost in Seattle these days.” However, according to meeting minutes from the WSCC’s board of directors, the budget increase was approved only a few weeks before LCL/Clark was officially announced as the new GC/CM, and the increase was not even considered by the board or the addition committee until after the lawsuit from Skanska/Hunt was settled, lifting the injunction on hiring a new GC/CM. Meeting minutes from March of 2016 (before the settlement) state specifically that the budget would not be increased. Meeting minutes from May of 2016, however, indicate the board voted to increase the budget based on a financial plan dated April 26, 2016, the exact day the lawsuit was settled.

The WSCC is funding this expansion entirely with public money: revenue from lodging taxes collected in Seattle and King County. Despite years of consistently high occupancy rates in the region’s hotels, the increased budget currently exceeds expected revenues from existing taxes and the WSCC is asking the state legislature to increase lodging taxes on small hotels and short-term rentals like Airbnb. Unsurprisingly, the current budget shortfall is about $200 million, the same amount as the budget increase after LCL/Clark was hired.   

As a Public Facilities District (PFD), the WSCC and their agents have a duty to act in the interests of the public they are meant to serve. Unfortunately, the WSCC has been operating more like a privately owned, but publicly financed corporation, and the PFD’s structure allows almost no oversight from local elected officials. These reviews by the county council and the city council are the only opportunities for public oversight of the WSCC’s actions. While the WSCC’s and Pine Street Group’s actions regarding the GC/CM selection may be legal, it does not mean they have acted in the interest of residents of Seattle or King County. Before accepting the WSCC’s claims of poverty when it comes to providing public benefits, the City and the County should seriously question whether the WSCC is truly acting in the public’s interest.  

King County is holding a public hearing on Monday, June 19th to discuss the sale of convention place station to the WSCC, and have planned a vote of the full council on Monday, June 26th. If you cannot attend in person, please call or write to your county councilmember.  

City of Seattle will be reviewing the public benefits package in the coming months. Contact your city councilmembers to let them know your thoughts.

Update 6/22/2017: The Urbanist received the following comment from the WSCC in response to this article: “We strongly disagree with this editorial, especially regarding the general contractor selection process and the team’s budget management. This piece is speculative and implies dubious intent which is patently untrue and extremely misleading. This project offers substantial benefits to the public, and its stewards are committed to serving the community responsibly.”

Editor’s Note: This article has been edited to reflect that Bill and Jane Lewis are no longer married as reported  in the original publishing.

King County Council Should Reject The Sale Of Convention Place Station

The post Convention Center’s Personal Ties Overshadow Public Mission first appeared on The Urbanist.

We are a coalition of nonprofits, community organizations, and advocacy groups serving neighborhoods adjacent to the proposed WSCC Addition. We collectively represent thousands of Seattleites dedicated to creating a more attractive, safe, livable and affordable city center.

The WSCC Addition will permanently reshape a large part of Seattle’s urban core. We believe the project’s size, central location, public ownership, and extensive request for public right-of-way compels the WSCC to offer an accordingly large-scale public benefit package for our community. Based on the benefits associated with other recent large development projects in Downtown, we anticipate the WSCC must offer a public benefits package valued in the range of $60-75 million, independent of required fees and environmental mitigation.

Since we first announced the Community Package in February, the WSCC has failed to revise their proposal to be commensurate with the vacation petition. Their current offer remains well short of the expectations of the City and community members. City Council is ready to fight for an appropriate suite of benefits for public parks, safe streets, and affordable housing, but they first need the recommendation of the Design Commission.

RSVP on Facebook to let us know you’re coming! The session runs 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM, but if you can only stay a short time the presentation and public comment period will be early on. We will send a strong message by filling the room with supporters. We’ll be handing out buttons so you can identify yourself as part of the Community Package Coalition, and we ask that you stand with us as we deliver our message that this once-in-a-generation development opportunity should serve the greatest public good.

Can’t make it in person? Please send a message to the Design Commission supporting the Community Package via michael.jenkins@seattle.gov. If you don’t have time to send a personalized message, you can also sign the Community Package petition.

If you believe in fighting for more parks, safer crossings for people walking and biking, and affordable homes for working families, then join us next Thursday to show your support.

Feature image credit to LMN Architects.

The post This Thursday: Seattle Design Commission Debates The Convention Center Expansion first appeared on The Urbanist.

Meanwhile, fixing the impacts caused by kicking buses out of the tunnel is going to be costly. One Center City’s Option D, which is projected to hold operation costs flat, would cost about $28 million to implement, according to initial reports. The result would be bus-only lanes (peak only) on Fifth Avenue, which could be a big long-term win for Downtown transit. Going big could take this crisis and turn it into an opportunity to transform our transit network for the better. The question is where to get the money to build it and how to execute such an ambitious plan on a condensed schedule. So far, there has been little indication that the WSCC would pay for the transit impacts of its project nor delay their project to reduce those impacts. Nonetheless, chipping into One Center City is a surefire way for the WSCC to demonstrate its commitment to public benefits.

Options Presented For One Center City

The WSCC has argued that the buses will be coming out of the transit tunnel anyway due to the demands of more frequent light rail service as Link expands to Northgate by 2021. That does appear to be Sound Transit’s plan, but there certainly is a cost in doing so a few years earlier and rushing the time transit agencies have to vet and carry out this massive undertaking. Will the transit agencies be able to execute an ambitious plan when they have only 18 months to take the project from early concepts to 100% design?

King County Executive Dow Constantine tried to sell the proposed sale of Convention Place Station for $161 million (which would cement the loss of bus access to the transit tunnel) as a win for Metro Transit because it will funnel the proceeds into transit service. “King County appears to be loaning WSCC the funds to buy the site from itself: a net total of $275 million is expected in principal and interest payments over 32 years. The proceeds will go to improving Metro’s transit service and reliability,” Scott Bonjukian wrote. Of course, one could also view the deal as King County getting fair market value for the prime Downtown site and see the WSCC–as a public facilities district–still having an obligation to mitigate the transportation impacts of its construction.

Some have suggested the best way the WSCC could help Downtown transportation is to simply delay their time table so that the light rail network has a chance to get ahead of impacts to Downtown streets. Starting construction on the addition two years later would mean buses would be removed from the Downtown transit tunnel only once Northgate Link service testing and East Link construction makes it absolutely necessary. The East Link construction apparently will force I-90 buses out of the tunnel in late 2018, but it seems that could potentially be temporary with the East Link itself not operating (and fully kicking buses out) until 2023. And Northgate Link service testing would mean light rail service all the way to North Seattle will be only a few months behind–and with it an easing of pressure on the transit network.

The WSCC Addition’s public benefits package does address some concerns about bike mobility. It’s clear developers envision Pike and/or Pine Street as a bike route. It’s less clear how they plan to make that vision reality and make it truly a safe and comfortable route. There’s a freeway to contend with after all, and that means busy on- and off-ramps that have been the sites of numerous collisions. Ryan Packer lays out the shortcomings of One Center City’s bicycle and pedestrian planning thus far here.

What this leaves us with is an ambitious $1.6 billion convention center expansion plan barreling towards construction with a transportation mitigation strategy that seems entirely a question mark. Perhaps it’s time to ask why the haste? If partner agencies don’t get One Center City right, it will be Seattle area commuters who will be doing the waiting and Metro Transit who will bear the cost of slower buses.

The next Seattle Design Commission hearing on public benefits is on April 20th at 9am in Room L2-80. Update: The WSCC is no longer on the agenda for the April commission meeting, with the South Lander Street Bridge taking its place. The next scheduled Seattle Design Commission meeting is May 4th.  The WSCC appears to be hoping its public benefits package will earn the commission’s stamp of approval at its next hearing. The King County Council is also expected to do a hearing on whether or not to approve the Convention Place Station sale on April 26th.

The featured image is by Scott Bonjukian.

One Center City Presents Options for Downtown Transit

The post WSCC Addition Transit Impacts Show Up In One Center City first appeared on The Urbanist.