Site Constraints Alter Northgate Commons Vision

SEATTLE-Plans for the redevelopment of the south parking lot at Northgate mall here are in flux as the would-be developer gets a handle on what types of development are actually feasible given the constraints of the six-acre site. The project is one piece of a $100-million development on mall property made easier this past December when the City Council abolished a rule instituted in the 1990s that required a “General Development Plan” for large Northgate sites.The rule was intended to improve traffic management and building design, but did not. In the decade since, nothing has been built under the plan. As soon as the new legislation was passed, agreements were announced for mall owner Simon Properties to replace older vacant buildings with 230,000 sf of new retail space on its mall property and for locally based Lorig Associates to buy six acres of the mall’s little-used 17-acre south parking lot for Northgate Commons, which would include 150,000 sf of retail and commercial space and 300 or more mixed-income residential units. At the time, the city and the developers thought the biggest hurdle for the south parking lot development would be how to fulfill requirements for wetlands and the restoration of Thornton Creek, which is partially covered by the south parking lot. As it turned out, an agreement on how to partially daylight Thornton Creek and still manage stormwater runoff was relatively easy to come by. Meanwhile, what will be developed on the site has become less clear.In addition to being right next to a major mall, the property is located adjacent to Interstate 5, the Northgate Transit Center and Northgate Park ‘N Ride Lot, a future Sound Transit light rail station, the future Northgate Library and a neighborhood park. Despite the prime location, Lorig’s head of investor relations Laura Bachman tells GlobeSt.com that the amount of retail in its proposed project has been halved for lack of interest.There’s no lack of interest by retailers in the location–in theory, it would be a great place for a grocery store–but there is a distinct lack of interest in the rental rate required to support the structured parking necessary due to the slope of the site, says Bachman. And while the obvious solution is to replace the retail with residential, Bachman says it’s not that simple.”When you just increase the residential component, you get beyond any reasonable absorption rate,” says Bachman. “So then you have to look at having different categories of residential in order to not overbuild any one type.”As things now stand, the plan is to indeed increase the number of residential units from 300 to at least 500. However, rather than having those units all be apartments, there is talk of having pieces of the property sold off for an elder care development and a condominium development in addition to the market rate and affordable housing components.Currently, Lorig is seeking interest from developers of the potential components of the revised project, but nothing has been firmed up. Regardless, it likely will be the summer of 2006 before building permits are in hand and shovels are in the ground, she says.