A little over a month ago, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray proposed selling the Pacific Place mall garage for $87 million to mall owner Madison Marquette. Considered a money-losing investment, it’s an opportunity for the city to unload the property and a chance for the developer to build on some extremely valuable land.
Monday, the Seattle City Council approved the sale of the 1,200-stall garage.
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 at the time due to the discrepancy with the original price.
The sale is expected to close next month. While Murray had previously said the profits on the sale could be used on city projects such as the North Precinct Police Station, that actual discussion won’t happen for a while.
Plans for the garage and what might be built on top remain to be seen as well.