$600 Million Denny Triangle Property Deal A No-Go

"Denny Triangle And First Hill" by Ryan Hadley

A 13-acre, $600 million property in the Denny Triangle has been pulled back off the markets for now, thanks to an unfavorable debt economy thwarting similar development deals across the country. According to the Wall Street Journal, the development of the Clise family-owned property was meant to catapult a $7 billion project in downtown Seattle and revitalize the area over the next twenty years.

Apparently, the deal with an interested buyer went south as the parties looked seriously at financing the purchase in what is an increasingly shaky credit environment. Though Clise Properties had hoped to offset the financing problem by pursuing foreign investors, even off-shore development companies are affected by the financial risks of taking on debt for such large-scale projects and ultimately the deal was a no-go.

We certainly understand the impulse to hunker down these days, hold our dollars closer to our chest, and be that much more cautious about taking on debt. God knows we’re stocking up on cream of mushroom soup, “just in case,” and we’ve even been considering pursuing some foreign investors of our own. (Okay, by foreign investors we mean our parents up in Bothell.)

But we are also aware that $7 billion projects bring the happy smell of jobs for people who need them and, in this case, investment in an area that could certainly use some attention. We’re sure the Clise family is bummed about this, anyway.