Sound Transit looks to double cost of property acquisition, construction support services for West Seattle expansion

Sound Transit said it needs another $765 million to acquire property and prepare for the link extension to West Seattle, but said it won’t change the overall budget.

The Sound Transit Expansion Committee meets this afternoon to decide whether to more than double the price tag for acquiring property that is in the way of the 3.9-mile expansion of light rail from SoDo to West Seattle. The cost also includes construction support services.

There are currently 55 parcels of land inside the expected footprint of the eventual 3-Line.

Resolution 2026-19 would increase the expected cost of property acquisition and construction support services from $738,612,926 to more than $1.5 billion. That’s an increase of $765 million. That would bring the total property acquisition costs up to nearly $562,982,000.

Sound Transit said this increase will not change the overall budget of the extension. It is within the current total cost estimates of the project, which are around $5 billion. The agency trimmed $2 billion from the West Seattle project earlier this year when it decided to scrap the Avalon Station, among other cost savings. Sound Transit also said this increase won’t take money or materially impact other expansion projects.

Why is a ballooning acquisition budget a potential problem?

You might have forgotten that acquisition costs helped contribute to a $500 million increase in the overall budget for expansion to Lynnwood. It’s important to note that no one is expecting housing costs to jump more than 40% during this project, as they did during the property acquisition for Lynnwood. There were design changes and labor cost increases too that pushed up the Lynnwood budget.

If the expansion committee does not approve this increase today, it could delay the current timeline. Construction on the extension is expected to begin in 2027 and wrap up in 2032. If the committee approves the resolution, it will go before the full board in two weeks.

Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.

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