When the Seattle City Council said no to a street vacation of a stretch of Occidental Avenue S in May, that seemed to spell doom for Chris Hansen’s potential SoDo arena plans. Without that, Hansen would be unable to use the land that he owns as needed in order to create a potential new home for the Seattle Sonics.
So, Chris Hansen did what any person who owns a crapton of SoDo would do. He bought more SoDo.
The man who already owns nearly $64.7 million of neighborhood real estate just purchased 4.88 acres along Occidental Avenue S. and S. Holgate Street for $32 million. There’s currently multiple warehouses located on the two contiguous lots.
According to Hansen’s representative William Vipond, the would-be Sonics owner now owns about 12.26 acres of land and over 500,000 square feet in SoDo. He also said the purchased lot "has a lot of possibilities" and "could be used for parking for the stadium."
While the purchase renews belief that a basketball/hockey arena could still be built there, it remains unclear how Hansen can get around the council's decision and have enough space to build what he needs. He’s also running up against the Memorandum of Understanding’s expiration date, which is coming in 2017.
· Seattle arena backer acquires another big SODO parcel [K5]
· Hansen pays $32M for more land in SoDo [DJC]
· Seattle City Council Says No to SoDo Arena Street Vacation [CS]
· Chris Hansen Apparently Buying Entire SoDo Neighborhood [CS]
· Chris Hansen Now Owns 'Everything We Need To Own' For SoDo Arena [CS]