Package would tap $16.8 million for expanded arts and recreation at waterfront parkSEATTLE- Mayor Greg Nickels this week sent to the City Council legislation that will renovate three deteriorating, former military buildings at Warren G. Magnuson Park into spaces for arts and recreation and build a new tennis center at the North Seattle park.
The proposals will tap up to $16.8 million in private investments to save a popular sailing program, renovate theater space for Civic Light Opera, create a new home for the Cascade Bicycle Club and provide space for an innovative green company, among other benefits.
“We’ve long faced the challenge of just how do we reuse these rundown buildings in a way that contributes to the life of the park,” Nickels said. “These partnerships bring us a big step closer to completing this spectacular waterfront park without taking resources away from other projects around the city.”
Without partnerships with compatible organizations, the city faces a $50 million bill to upgrade all of the remaining buildings at the park to meet current building codes and keep them open for public use.
In 2005, the city sought bids from private and nonprofit investors to finance the renovation of buildings in the park and to expand their uses. Today, it is considering four proposals from two nonprofits, Cascade Bicycle Club and Civic Light Opera, Seattle Court Sports Unlimited and a group that formed to renovate Building 11 at the park.
The package includes upgrades to three park buildings with a combined 130,000 square feet:
- Cascade Bicycle Club would invest $3 million to upgrade Building 18, which is currently vacant, to house the Northwest Center for Cycling. The facility would feature classrooms, a bike-repair workshop, a training center for cyclists and a small coffee shop. The building would also house the Cascade Bicycle Club and provide office space for other bicycle-oriented organizations.
- Building 11 LLC, formed to renovate Building 11 in the northwest corner of the park, proposes a $7 million upgrade for a recreation-oriented mixed-use development. The building would continue to house Sail Sand Point, a nonprofit small boat program serving primarily youth. It would also include other recreation and fitness organizations artist lofts and two local restaurants – Kidd Valley and Ivar’s. The restaurants would mainly serve park users, as they would be in the interior of the park. MicroPlanet Inc., a research firm that develops innovative energy conservation technology, will remain in the building, echoing Seattle Parks and Recreation’s commitment to environmental stewardship.
- Civic Light Opera would invest up to $5 million to revamp and run a theater at the north end of the Magnuson Community Center. Civic Light Opera and other theater organizations currently use the space, but the facility needs substantial upgrades. In exchange for a long-term lease, Civic Light Opera would raise funds and improve the theater in phases. Other theater groups could use the space, which would continue to serve youth theater programs operated by the community center.
- Seattle Court Sports Unlimited proposes to spend $1.8 million to build a new indoor-outdoor tennis facility with 10 courts in an air-supported structure, or bubble.
The city acquired Magnuson Park, a former U.S. Navy base, in the mid-1970s. Since then, the park has undergone major transformation. In the late 1990s, the city obtained buildings with one million square feet of roof, mostly aging Navy-era structures located in the Sand Point Historic District. There are 11 major city-owned buildings in the park.
In the last decade, the city has invested $40 million in upgrades to utility infrastructure and the partial renovation of three buildings that now house a community center, an arts and cultural events venue, and offices for environmental, arts, and recreation organizations.
Magnuson Park sits on a mile-long stretch of Lake Washington’s shoreline in northeastern Seattle. At 350 acres, it is Seattle’s second largest park. It is home to a variety of nonprofit arts, civic, environmental and sports organizations.
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