Seattle Arena
Review Status
On April 6, 2017, we reviewed the Seattle Arena project proposal under the new vacation petition submitted in February 2017. This peition was submitted after the original vacation petition was denied by City Council in May 2016.
At this meeting we reviewed updates to the urban design merit and public benefit packages that were developed following the Council's denial of the previous petition. We reviewed the urban design merit proposal and public benefit package separately. We approved the urban design merit proposal and public benefit package with several recommendations.
Project Description
The petitioner proposes to vacate Occidental Ave S between S Massachusetts St and S Holgate St in the SoDo neighborhood to facilitate development of a 750,000-square-foot, 18,000-20,000-seat multi-purpose arena for NBA basketball, NHL hockey, other sporting events, concerts, and shows. The project site is bounded by S Massachusetts St to the north, 1st Ave S to the west, S Holgate St to the south, and the BNSF Railway right-of-way to the east. The vacation of Occidental Ave S would increase the developable area of the project site by roughly 17.5%. The proposed development includes a plaza space at the northwest corner of the site and widened sidewalks along 1st Ave S and S Holgate St.