Seattle City Council continues working out arena plan changes with Hansen

Members of the Seattle City Council gathered Monday for the first time since demanding changes to a plan for an arena in Seattle’s SoDo district.

While it was thought the Government Performance and Finance Committee meeting would spend time discussing the plan, if not hold a vote, neither happened.

According to councilmember Tim Burgess, since the city council’s July 30 letter to Chris Hansen, city staff and lawyers have been involved in conversations with Hansen concerning the next steps for the arena plan.

“These discussions are continuing in a fruitful manner. We will continue our deliberations of the legislative package as quickly as possible, but a matter of this significance requires very careful and thorough consideration,” Burgess wrote in his blog.

The committee won’t reconvene until after Labor Day to consider the arena legislation again.

The original arena proposal calls for about $290 million in private investment from Hansen’s group, along with $200 million from the city and county through 30-year bonds.

After an extensive review, councilmembers said if investor Chris Hansen doesn’t address concerns laid out in their July letter, “we do not believe that proceeding with the project would be in the City’s or the public’s best interest.”

The agreement calls for all tax money generated by the arena be used to pay off bonds to finance the deal. In the letter, the councilmembers wrote that while they are supportive of sharing arena tax revenues, the deal would “deprive the city of funding that could and should be used to address impacts of the arena transportation and freight,” along with other areas of concern.

“Chris asked for $200 million and then agreed that if only one team was secured, basketball instead of hockey, he could do this deal for $120 million,” Burgess said in July. “So we’re negotiating how much does he actually receive out of the total pie of $200 million and how much of that pie do we shift over to public infrastructure.”

The letter expressed concerns over financial protections, and said the city should be guaranteed it is first in line before any other creditors in case of default. It also seeks disclosure of more financial information from Hansen and his investor group.