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SEATTLE-Billionaire Paul Allen's real estate company Vulcan Inc. is moving ahead with an affordable housing project it promised city officials five years ago. The six-story 33,000-sf project will rise at the northwest corner of Denney Way and Dexter Avenue in the South Lake Union area where Vulcan controls some 60 acres of property.
In 2001, the City of Seattle agreed to sell Vulcan eight properties totaling 4.56 acres in the South lake Union area for $20.8 million. The properties were acquired by the city in the 1960s and '70s and set aside for a freeway extension. The extension was eventually scrapped, but the land has remained out of circulation for 30 years.
As part of the agreement, Vulcan agreed to build a 20,000-sf cultural center, parking and 500 housing units, 10% of which were to be affordable, and the city agreed to raise the building height limit on four of the eight parcels by 25 feet to 65 feet.
Allen acquired his first 10 acres in the South Lake Union area in the mid-'90s. He lent $20 million to the Seattle Commons initiative, aimed at a massive redevelopment of the area. When the plagued project ultimately failed to receive voter approval, Allen ended up with 10 acres in exchange for the investment. With that as his cornerstone, Allen formed City Investors to acquire additional South Lake Union properties for eventual redevelopment.
The eight-property deal with the city in 2001 brought his holdings in SLU to 40 acres. That total is now up to around 60 acres, and Vulcan is in the process of developing 3.6 million sf of commercial, retail and residential projects.
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