Woe unto Chris Hansen, the multimillionaire who rode into town in 2012 with dreams of building an arena in SoDo that would be the home to reborn Seattle Sonics as well an NHL franchise. Coming up on three years later and that hasn't quite panned out. Judging by the way the final environmental impact statement is going, it might never.
On Friday, the city's department of planning and development revealed the proposed arena's final environmental impact statement (EIS) had been delayed three more months because of the complexity of issues involved. That realistically pushes well into 2016 the time frame for issuing any permits for the project proposed by entrepreneur Chris Hansen. The delay prompted a sternly-worded message from Mayor Ed Murray asking for more transparency and has reenergized the debate for more information and clarity on both sides. Worth noting that the review not only includes plans at the SoDo site but also at Seattle Center, which has been kept in mind as a back-up if the preferred spot falls through.
· Process for Chris Hansen's oft-delayed arena project needs more transparency [ST]
· NHL Interest Not Enough To Change SoDo Arena Deal...Yet [CS]
· All Chris Hansen coverage [CS]