Hansen grilled about new arena by Seattle City Council
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SEATTLE -- The Seattle City Council grilled developer Chris Hansen Wednesday about his plans to build a new sports arena in the Sodo district. For two a and a half hours, concerned councilmembers asked questions and say they still didn't get all their questions answered.
One topic of discussion was what to do with the former home of the Sonics, KeyArena. Hansen said the Key simply isn't an option for a new team as it is too old, too small and too much of a hassle compared to his Sodo site.
"Where do we play if we tear down Key?" Hansen said. " What are we going to do?"
Hansen said there is an easy way and a hard way to bring a new NBA team to Seattle, and having them play in a revamped city-owned KeyArena is about as hard as it gets.
"It just takes longer and costs more," Hansen said.
The city council peppered Hansen with worries about the proposed Sodo site. The council hopes other locations could calm the traffic fears from the port and drivers. Queen Anne could be better.
"We believe that would be less of an impact, traffic impact on that neighborhood than, say, the Sodo neighborhood," said council member Nick Licata.
All sides worry though that Key is simply getting too creaky. There's poor access for trailers, and many events have awkward seating. It would have to a temporary home for the teams and Hansen could pay up to $5 million to help with renovations.
But he pivoted away on a number of direct questions, including the names of all his fellow investors and their hefty wallets.
"Why not just dig a little deeper and then make this a private deal?" wondered council member Bruce Harrell.
Hansen has said that most of the investors will likely remain silent until a team is acquired to play in Seattle.
Hansen also didn't want to answer a question from council member Tim Burgess about whether a parking garage could be located south of Holgate Street.
"I'd really rather not comment," Hansen said. "There's a number of options around there."
The council is growing tired of it.
"Today, he did hedge on giving us full and complete answers," Licata said.
Hansen has always said that this is an evolving deal and he doesn't want to speak out of turn and damage progress for the Sodo location.
"I think we did our best to answer the simple fact that we've looked at most of the other sites," Hansen said. "We feel this is the best one."
Optimism will help, but there are even more questions to come.
Critics raised the issue of zoning Tuesday saying the Sodo arena violates the intent of the stadium district and it could face legal challenges. Hansen's architectural firm weighed in saying the criticism is "off base."
One topic of discussion was what to do with the former home of the Sonics, KeyArena. Hansen said the Key simply isn't an option for a new team as it is too old, too small and too much of a hassle compared to his Sodo site.
"Where do we play if we tear down Key?" Hansen said. " What are we going to do?"
Hansen said there is an easy way and a hard way to bring a new NBA team to Seattle, and having them play in a revamped city-owned KeyArena is about as hard as it gets.
"It just takes longer and costs more," Hansen said.
The city council peppered Hansen with worries about the proposed Sodo site. The council hopes other locations could calm the traffic fears from the port and drivers. Queen Anne could be better.
"We believe that would be less of an impact, traffic impact on that neighborhood than, say, the Sodo neighborhood," said council member Nick Licata.
All sides worry though that Key is simply getting too creaky. There's poor access for trailers, and many events have awkward seating. It would have to a temporary home for the teams and Hansen could pay up to $5 million to help with renovations.
But he pivoted away on a number of direct questions, including the names of all his fellow investors and their hefty wallets.
"Why not just dig a little deeper and then make this a private deal?" wondered council member Bruce Harrell.
Hansen has said that most of the investors will likely remain silent until a team is acquired to play in Seattle.
Hansen also didn't want to answer a question from council member Tim Burgess about whether a parking garage could be located south of Holgate Street.
"I'd really rather not comment," Hansen said. "There's a number of options around there."
The council is growing tired of it.
"Today, he did hedge on giving us full and complete answers," Licata said.
Hansen has always said that this is an evolving deal and he doesn't want to speak out of turn and damage progress for the Sodo location.
"I think we did our best to answer the simple fact that we've looked at most of the other sites," Hansen said. "We feel this is the best one."
Optimism will help, but there are even more questions to come.
Critics raised the issue of zoning Tuesday saying the Sodo arena violates the intent of the stadium district and it could face legal challenges. Hansen's architectural firm weighed in saying the criticism is "off base."
