At the rate he's going, Chris Hansen is going to own all of SoDo. Sorry Mariners, guess you'll have to underperform in Bellevue now.
As Hansen awaits word on whether or not the Seattle Sonics will indeed be returning to play basketball in his new SoDo arena, he's busy buying up all the property he needs for parking and other arena amenities. Through his company WSA Properties, he's recently secured two parcels of land, including:
A trapezoid-shaped, 10,000 square-foot property at the northwest corner of First Avenue S. and S. Holgate Street. WSA paid $1.8M for the lot where a warehouse currently stands.
A corner property across the street on First Ave. where the old Paper Zone store was located. The land covers 26,640 square foot and cost WPA $3.2M.
Hansen already owns property at 1757 1st Avenue South, which he purchased for $1.8 million. And the only part of the block he doesn't own, the northeast corner of First and Holgate, is currently being negotiated for sale.
Expect much, if not all, of that space to be converted into parking lots and transportation hubs for the arena. This is the easy part, getting the basketball team into the arena is the tricky part.
Chris Hansen acquires two more Sodo parcels near arena site [PSBJ]
Seattle Arena Investor Chris Hansen Buying Up More SoDo Land [Curbed Seattle]