Tuesday, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray proposed selling the Pacific Place mall garage for $87 million to mall owner Madison Marquette. The move would give them the opportunity to build atop the property and free up the city from a money-losing investment.
The city agreed to pay $73 million for the garage eighteen years ago, considered $23 million over value, in order to help grease the wheels on the mall's construction. The city has been losing money on the garage for years and put it up for sale a few years back for $55 million but a deal was shut down by the City Council due to the discrepancy with the original price.
As the market has improved in recent years and values have risen, the city can probably get a much better sales figure for the garage now, especially since the time might be right for a developer to build market-rate housing atop it.
Mayor Murray says that proceeds from the sale would be used on city projects such as the North Precinct Police Station as well as paying off the debt remaining on the property.
· Seattle Mayor Ed Murray wants to sell Pacific Place garage for $87 million [PSBJ]