Jason Ho gets a kick out of running the Kentucky Derby game at the Fun Forest. "It's a great place," he said. "People like to come down here with their kids and have fun."
But Ho definitely isn't looking forward to the planned closure of an attraction that's been at the Seattle Center for more than four decades. "I think it's just going to be really bad," he said.
He's not alone. Ho is good friends with many of the managers at the Fun Forest, some of whom have worked at the family-run business for 10 to 15 years, and they - like him - are worried about finding new jobs, he said. "They're just really mad it's going to go down really soon."
Ho - who's been on the job for around a year - said the Fun Forest draws big crowds during the various Seattle Center festivals. "And during regular weekends, it's still pretty busy," he added.
But not busy enough, according to Seattle Center spokesman David Heurtel. No one from the family that has owned the Fun Forest since it opened for the 1962 World's Fair returned calls for comment.
But the business has slipped approximately $800,000 behind on its rent payments to the Seattle Center since 2004, Heurtel said. Factor in a Century 21 Committee assessment that the Fun Forest is past its prime, and the carnival's days are numbered.
Exactly how soon it will close has yet to be determined. The existing Fun Forest lease with the Seattle Center runs through 2014, and includes a five-year option to renew, Heurtel said. "But we're renegotiating the lease so it will end in 2009." However, the carnival will start losing parts of itself in a phased closure that would begin sometime in 2008 and end the following year, he said.
It's all part of the "greening of the Seattle Center," Heurtel said of closing the Fun Forest and replacing it with mostly open space. Eliminating the carnival is one of three top priorities for the city, he said.
The other two are giving the Center House a major makeover and replacing the Memorial Stadium with an amphitheater over an underground parking garage, according to the Century 21 Committee recommendations.
Getting rid of the Memorial Stadium will be tricky since it's owned by the Seattle School District, along with an adjoining parking lot that brings in a lot of much-needed cash to the school system, Heurtel noted. "There's obviously the issue of where those high school football games go," he added.
The school district is beginning to talk to the city about options for the stadium and the surrounding property, said spokeswoman Patti Spencer. "At this stage, any and all options are on the table for discussion."
Whatever the option is concerning the stadium, it will undoubtedly cost the city money, noted city council member David Della, chairman of the Parks, Education, Libraries and Labor Committee. "Obviously, the district will need some sort of return," he said.
But the city has one thing going for it as it heads into negotiations, according to Della. "We have a good relationship with the school district."
Estimates about the amount of money needed for the Seattle Center improvements have yet to be determined, he said. To begin with, Della noted, the Century 21 Committee didn't include any dollar amounts for the four alternatives it chose for redevelopment at the Seattle Center. One of the options is a pro-forma no-action alternative.
"So now we are going to go through and review them to determine the preferred alternative," he said. The review will also include adding an estimated price tag for each of the options, and a new levy is one possible source for the financing, Della added.
"I think that we will probably take some action by the end of the year," he said. But more work will be needed. A Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will need to be reviewed by the council as well, probably sometime next April, Della said. The Final EIS should be ready for council review in late July next year, he said.
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