| |
"It's not about the program, it's about the deal." July 22, 2008 – Seattle City Hall — The meeting room was crowded with supporters of Sail Sand Point, all there to urge City Councilman Tom Rasmussen and other members of the Parks and Seattle Center Committee to forward a development plan for Building 11, which houses Sail Sand Point and others, to the entire City Council. The fact that so many people attended the meeting was even more impressive since word of the meeting wasn’t released until the previous Friday afternoon. Rasmussen had previously stated he would recommend not forwarding the plan. Word spreads fast in the sailing community and come meeting time, 9:30 AM the following Tuesday, there was a long line of people ready to speak their piece. The plan was put forward by a group of investors, named Building 11 LLC, with its stated goal “to assemble a balance of rent-subsidized tenants and market-rate commercial businesses that together fulfill the Parks and Recreation mandate.” Building 11 LLC includes Sand Point board member Bill Fuller and we thank them all for stepping up. They foresee it costing 8.8 million dollars to renovate the building, which would include water related facilities along with a fitness center, retail businesses and a restaurant. For the city to condemn the building and put a cyclone fence around it, would be about $500,000. To completely raze it would cost about $1.5 million. So, on the surface, why wouldn’t the city jump at the chance to have investors renovate the building? They’d get revenue from the facility and Sail Sand Point and others would have a safe, secure home. After hearing testimony on how much Sail Sand Point is needed and enjoyed, the committee began discussing the proposal. Did the City have a plan – no. Did Parks have a plan – no. So, the only hope for the future seemed to lie with the proposal by Building 11 LLC. Ah, but the devil is in the details. Committee members were all quick to point out to the attendees that they thought the Sail Sand Point program was wonderful and its staying in operation was important to the community. However, there was a lack of “specificity” in the proposal which concerned the city, particularly because they were asking for a 40+10 year lease. (Not unprecedented, the Mountaineers have a 40 year lease.) A lot can happen in 50 years, plus there was an option of selling the lease in 10 years. Unfortunately, good intentions aren’t considered good business. There can be no gray areas. There are also a number of restrictions in place on the property: there are Parks’ policy issues on what exactly are “park related” enterprises. There’s also the Shoreline Management Act to deal with, which applies to a portion of the building. The good thing is that the committee was actually discussing ways they might make it work. The motion was made and seconded to not forward the proposal to the City Council. However, the recommendation was made and agreed upon to have a real estate consultant become involved in the negotiations, AND to come up with an acceptable contract by the end of September of this year. Given that Sail Sand Point has been on a six month lease for ten years and involved with proposals for the last three, this is a pretty quick turnaround, with a time frame! Is Sail Sand Point safe? The committee was adamant that SSP will always have a home. Sounds good but it’s not in writing. But after this meeting, no one was hanging their head. In fact, quite the opposite. It does seem that the bucket Sail Sand Point has been dragging, just may be a little smaller. Here’s hoping the consultant and Building 11 LLC can color in the gray areas and work this thing out. These are all good people trying to do good things. Make it happen! |
