It was disclosed early last week that Mayor Mike McGinn had reportedly tried to give away KeyArena and its site to stadium investor Chris Hansen early on during the development of his arena proposal. But after several months of review, Hansen cited transportation issues and declined the offer.
While McGinn’s spokesperson, Aaron Pickus, denied that such an offer was extended, Metropolitan King County Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer and Maud Daudon, financial advisor to the Arena Review Panel, confirmed it.
The situation says a lot about the players involved in the arena proposal and about what City Hall thinks about the Seattle Center and KeyArena.
First of all, it shouldn’t be surprising if McGinn tendered the KeyArena without due process since the arena proposal and his participation in it was just as secretive for the nine months preceding its presentation to the public. McGinn denied he was in serious talks about a new arena and then became one of its main cheerleaders, even though the arena project still needs transportation and cost studies.
But it also speaks to the KeyArena’s true value to the city: If McGinn can so readily hand over a public facility to someone who, at that point, was still developing a proposal, is the implication that the city — or at least McGinn —wants to divest itself of the KeyArena as quickly as it can?
Publicly, McGinn has said that, “KeyArena is going to continue,” and Seattle Center is supposed to be undergoing a renaissance with the future opening of the Chihuly glass museum and a major renovation of the Center House, among other investments on the grounds. But, apparently, KeyArena has become the city’s overpriced, underperforming player that it now wants to trade, even as taxpayers are paying the tail end of the building’s 20-year construction bonds that were supposed to be covered by the now-falling revenues.
And what does that say about the Seattle Storm, which entered a new, 10-year lease for KeyArena in 2009?
Hansen may have said KeyArena’s site was inadequate because of traffic, but the Queen Anne neighborhood had organically grown to handle the traffic when the Sonics team played there.
The Port of Seattle and the Seattle Mariners have cited their own transportation concerns with the SODO site. And then there’s the continuing Alaskan Way Viaduct project, which has removed hundreds of parking spaces and several miles of roadway.
KeyArena is still a valuable piece of property that shouldn’t be given as a present to a potential stadium developer, especially when the city is struggling with debt. At the very most, it should be considered as the public’s only contribution toward the $490 million arena.
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