When he purchased 4.88 acres along Occidental Avenue S. and S. Holgate Street for $32 million in September, would-be Sonics owner Chris Hansen officially owns about 12.26 acres of land and over 500,000 square feet in SoDo.
Now he’s found a little bit more.
On Tuesday, public records indicated Hansen's LLC, known as WSA Properties, closed on two more parcels between 1st Avenue South and Occidental. One is the Taylor Edwards Building at 1518 1st Avenue South - home of Henry's Tavern, and another is a vacant lot.
While the assessed value of the land was just $8.8 million, Hansen’s group paid $25 million for it. He and his group now own 12.65 acres, 16 properties, and more than 551,000 square feet in SoDo.
The proposed arena would be built just south of the lots recently purchased, between 1st Avenue South and Occidental at Holgate Street.
With that purchase, Hansen now owns most of the property on the east side of 1st Avenue South from Edgar Martinez Way to Holgate . The only bits he doesn’t own (yet) are the "DreamGirls" adult entertainment club and a small vacant lot.
Hansen continues to buy up all of this land in spite of the fact that the Seattle City Council all but killed his arena plans five months back when they said no to a street vacation. So either he remains confident he can turn those frowns upside down or he’s got a back-up plan in mind. The NBA is rumored to be re-considering expansion once the new Collective Bargaining Agreement is approved.