The Alaska Building Saga: Union Lobbies City Council To Smite Rezoning Bid

The story so far: Two years ago, amid trumpets and fanfare, the City of Seattle sold the 15-story Alaska Building to developer Kent Angier, to be used for "affordable workforce housing." The selling price was $8.5 million dollars -- $500,000 to $1 million less than offers from developers interested in turning it into office space. The City says it had an unwritten understanding with Angier that the building would be used for housing. Recently, Angier announced plans to build instead a non-union Marriott hotel.

Now the hotel workers union and the Seattle City Council are pushing back. Angier's Marriott would be a non-union hotel, which got the union disgruntled enough to lobby the Council when Angier asked for permission to build an addition to the existing building. So far, it looks like the union is the lone winner on the board. On July 16, Real Change reports, the Council voted 6-3 to require housing in any addition that exceeded 100 feet. The Times quotes voice of the opposition Richard Conlin -- who now says "we blew it" by not getting it in writing:

"In the worst case we could end up shooting ourselves in the foot because we gave up some money in hopes it wouldn't be offices and we might end up with offices," said Councilmember Richard Conlin, who voted in the minority along with Jan Drago and Peter Steinbrueck.

We weren't sure this story had legs when we first started with it, but thanks to the Council, it's running in a whole new heat. Here's the Weekly on the lead-up to the vote. Even the Puget Sound Business Journal is weighing in, though we can't tell how thanks to that subscription requirement.

Still, we'd love to see the press conference that puts all the players in the same room: the Seattle Times mentions that that Angier is upset by suggestions that he reneged on the deal, and quotes him as saying: "No commitment was made and more importantly we weren't asked to make commitment." In 2004 the Times reported: "The Alaska Building would differ from most high-rise condo projects proposed for downtown. Instead of targeting the luxury market, Angier plans to aim the 700- to 800-square-foot units at first- or second-time home buyers."