SEATTLE, Nov. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Last month,
leaders from Washington State
Convention Center (WSCC), the City of
Seattle and the community celebrated the largest installment
of public benefits payments to the City as part of the Convention
Center's Addition project. This current payment totals more than
$38 million and is part of a
$93 million package from the
Convention Center that will substantially benefit the community for
decades to come. The largest portion of this payment --
$30 million – is for affordable
housing.
"I am excited to see the Convention Center expansion project
move forward," said Seattle City Councilmember and Housing, Health,
Energy & Workers' Rights Committee Chair Teresa Mosqueda. "This will provide long-term
economic benefits for our city, allowing us to continue to attract
some of the best national conventions and events! Thanks to the
amazing work of the Community Benefits Package team, this will also
bring much needed investment in parks, safe streets, and visioning
a lid over I-5. I am especially proud that, through collaboration
with the community and development team, we were able to secure
this $30 million contribution to
building affordable homes for low-income households and workers who
might otherwise be priced out of our city. A special thanks to
Councilmembers O'Brien and Johnson, who worked with my office to
make the legislation adopting this agreement a reality. Built with
union Labor, and utilization of apprentices and pre-apprentices, we
are also seeing an investment and commitment to family-wage jobs
and growing the workforce that builds our city!"
Earlier this year, Seattle City Council unanimously approved
street and alley vacations needed to build an additional facility –
which is called Summit. As a part of the vacations approval, the
Convention Center is providing a package of community benefits. The
package was crafted in concert with the Community Package
Coalition, an alliance of open spaces, community, walking, biking
and housing organizations.
"With construction now underway, I am pleased to stand alongside
city and community leaders and announce these payments," said
Convention Center Board Member and Vice Chair Deryl Brown-Archie. "The Convention Center is
living up to its promise to contribute meaningfully to our
community. October's payments comprise funding for affordable
housing, open spaces and bicycle infrastructure – key priorities
named by Seattle residents."
The October payments include the following:
- $30 million for affordable
housing paid to the City of
Seattle's Office of Housing
- $6 million to the
City of Seattle's Department of
Transportation to support Bicycle Master Plan improvements on Pike
and Pine Streets and Eighth Avenue in downtown ($16 million in total payments from WSCC over the
life of the project)
- $750,000 to the City of
Seattle Parks Department for improvements to Freeway Park
($10 million in total payments
from WSCC over the life of the project)
- $1.5 million to fund a
comprehensive analysis of potential lidding over parts of I-5
"Access to affordable housing is a critical issue for this
region," said Marty Kooistra,
Executive Director at Housing Development Consortium. "At every
possible opportunity we must all stretch further than ever before
to find the resources and the will to overcome the gap between
available homes and the number of people who desperately need them.
As part of the Community Package Coalition, HDC pressed for a
strong focus on affordable housing within the Convention Center's
benefits package. The payments will mean a huge boost in resources
for affordable housing developments ready to start now."
The $30 million affordable housing
payment is the largest part of the WSCC project's contribution to
subsidized housing. As part of the land purchase from King County, the Convention Center also
contributed $5 million to the
county's housing program. In addition, the project will pay
$4.3 million into the housing fund as
part of the Incentive Zoning Program. In total, the project is
contributing about $39.3 million to
subsidized housing in the community.
A joint venture of Clark Construction and Lease Crutcher Lewis,
the general contractors selected to build the $1.7 billion project, began work on the facility
in July. Over the three-year construction period, the project team
will hire as many as 6,000 union construction workers (many from
targeted zip codes) and hundreds of apprentices, plus will
contribute roughly $100 million in
construction sales taxes. Once operational, the Summit building is
expected to create about 3,900 new, ongoing jobs and generate
roughly $260 million in new customer
spending and $19 million in sales
taxes annually.
Other speakers at the press announcement included Office of
Housing Director Steve Walker,
Cascade Bicycle Club Executive Director Richard Smith, Freeway Park Association Board
President Tim Holt, and Lid I-5
Steering Committee member Scott
Bonjukian.
For more information and to view the full list of public
benefits contributions, please visit
http://www.wsccaddition.com/community/public-benefits.
About the Washington State
Convention Center
Located in the heart of Seattle and walking distance to world-class
hotels, restaurants, entertainment and attractions, the
Washington State Convention Center
has been the Northwest's premier meetings and events facility for
30 years. WSCC welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors from
around the globe each year, offering industry-leading service,
award-winning catering and a comprehensive range of services for
event planners, exhibitors and guests. With a longstanding
commitment to sustainability, public art and modern technology,
WSCC serves its surrounding community and provides visitors with a
truly unique Northwest experience. For information, visit
www.wscc.com.
Media Contact:
Katherine Mackinnon, Addition Team
206.372.6504, Katherine.Mackinnon@nyhus.com
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SOURCE Washington State
Convention Center