Michael Christ’s Seco Development has already built these beautiful apartments on the lakefront at Southport.

While we have very publicly been working on the Seahawks Headquarters, the Landing, and an ill-fated Sonics proposal, a key piece of Renton’s renaissance has been quietly shaping up on the shore of Lake Washington next to the airplane factory. Michael Christ has opened up shoreline to the public that was inaccessible for decades, and he is building world-class office space, shopping, dining, and housing. He built a commercial-sized dock to establish lake cruises, and a venue for weddings, concerts, and outdoor movies (the first movie is tonight).

He also has plans for a hotel, and has the capital, know-how, and determination to put in a four or even a five-star hotel right here in Renton! (…think Four Seasons). Such a hotel, when completed with the office park, housing and retail he plans, will rival the Landing in terms of the cost of the development. And it will put our city in a new league in terms of entertaining, and hosting visitors….in short, a dream for our visitor’s bureau and Chamber of Commerce.

Unfortunately, our own processes and inadvertent zoning changes have made the approval journey unreasonably complicated, a classic red-tape problem.

But this is one of the main reasons we employ an Economic Development staff, and I am confident they can work through this quickly. If possible, I would like to see any holdups in front of council in a matter of days, so that we can get them in front of the public, resolve any open questions, and take action soon–before the opportunity goes away. His proposed improvements to the hotel appear to be within the 10% change allowed by the code…but even if they exceed 10% , we should fast-track our review of this project. Unlike many of our other mega-projects in work, Mr. Christ has not been asking for taxpayer assistance. He also sets an extraordinarily high standard for quality.

So if you see Mr. Christ around town, encourage him not to lose heart, and tell him how you feel about his investment and hard work. And think about asking him how to book a reservation for your visiting friends from out of town…this will be an extremely popoular place to stay with its proximity to the Landing, the lake, Seatac airport, and Coulon Park walking trails.

Here are some emails on the topic, that can be found in the official public record:

To: ‘Alexander Pietsch’; Daniel Clawson; Denis Law; Don Persson; Kathy
Keolker; Marcie Palmer; Randy Corman; Terri Briere; Antonette Nelson
Cc: April Alexander; Bonnie Walton; Jay Covington; Julia Medzegian;
Marty Wine; Neil Watts; Peter Hahn; Suzanne Dale Estey
Subject: RE: RE: Meeting

It just sounds so red-tapish….

I’m just venting, but we worked like heck to get Harvest Partners to put
in a hotel at the Landing (which they said the market won’t support),
and spent $30,000,000 in taxpayer money trying to make the Landing all
it can be. Then we battled Westfield, and practically declared war on
Australia in the process in order to get the type of construction we
wanted. Then we spent $30,000 on a study to try to sell an Arena, and
we told the public that we could handle basketball games without traffic
problems….not to mention we were talking some untold millions of
dollars of Renton contribution if the arena went forward.

Now, when Michael Christ steps forward to build a 5-star hotel, I hope
we don’t spook him more than necessary with process issues and “risks”
from appeals. It’s right to work through the process, but let’s be
careful not to discourage him. He seems to be the only builder that is
willing to build our vision for this area without asking for millions of
dollars from the taxpayers to get it done.

Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox now. 🙂

Thanks,

Randy

—–Original Message—–
From: Alexander Pietsch [mailto:Apietsch@ci.renton.wa.us]
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2007 1:05 PM
To: Daniel Clawson; Denis Law; Don Persson; Kathy Keolker; Marcie
Palmer; Randy Corman; Terri Briere; Antonette Nelson
Cc: April Alexander; Bonnie Walton; Jay Covington; Julia Medzegian;
Marty Wine; Neil Watts; Peter Hahn; Suzanne Dale Estey
Subject: Fwd: RE: Meeting

Councilmembers…
I know several of you have had conversations in recent months with
Michael Christ. He is very excited about moving forward with his planned
development at Southport and has expressed an interest in expanding the
scope of his original plans to a 350 room hotel (130 units more than
previously planned) and 1+ million square feet of office (he is
currently permitted for 750,000 sf).

We, too, are very excited about seeing this project built. Neil and I
have been talking with Michael recently about how to move his expansion
plans forward. Unfortunately, it may not be as easy as Michael would
like. Below is an e-mail from Neil to Michael outlining Southport’s
current entitlements.

If he would like to increase the project’s scope beyond these
entitlements, he will need to go through a new environmental review
process. This isn’t the end of the world, and could be completed in a
few months. But, it does open his project up to possible appeal, and as
we all know too well, that is a risk.

I wanted to let you know about the situation, as he may approach you
about it.

Staff continues to be extremely supportive of Michael’s efforts to build
Southport (at either scale), and we will continue to work with him to
ensure that he can proceed to construction in accordance with City and
State processes and regulations.

Please contact me or Neil if you have any questions.

Alex Pietsch
Administrator
Dept. of Economic Development,
Neighborhoods & Strategic Planning
City of Renton
425.430.6592 voice
425.430.7300 fax
http://rentonwa.gov

>>> Neil Watts 8/15/2007 5:19:19 PM >>>
Michael
I have been reviewing the documents and different options for the
Southport site. If we are to proceed under the approved April 2000
Level 2 site plan, and the limitations of the planned action, I do not
think any of the proposed alternatives, including the described max
allowed will work without additional SEPA review. Yich!
Running rough trip generation numbers, I think we would be able to
proceed with the following size project:

383 apartment units
22,919 sq.ft. retail
13,000 sq.ft. restaurant
353 room hotel
720,205 sq.ft office

This project size is probably the maximum that will comply with the
planned action and the approved Level 2 site plan. It appears that the
project approved in the Level 2 site plan is the maximum permitted, and
cannot be furthered increased without new SEPA review.
We will still need to complete a Level 1 site plan review for the hotel.
A modification will be required to the Level 1 site plan already
approved for the office building.

The planned action lists various maximum limits, and only specific
limits include discussion about a maximum 10% change. The other limits,
including the listed traffic generation limits do not include the
additional 10% change. Page 4 of the approved planned action (Ord.
4804) lists maximum limits for AM peak, PM peak and daily total trips.
We cannot go beyond those numbers without additional SEPA review. This
would include a new traffic study, with current conditions. I believe
that the project scope I have listed is near or at these trip generation
maximums. I welcome a more detailed traffic analysis based on trip
generation formulas and reasonable assumptions for pass-by trips and
internal trips.
Please also note that the Level 2 site plan, the planned action EIS and
the code requirements of the COR 3 zone limit height to 10 stories, not
to exceed 125 feet in height.
I think it is possible to retain the existing vested entitlements to
this property while exploring additional approvals for a larger project
scope. We will need a updated traffic study, a supplemental EIS, a new
planned action and a new master plan approval for this larger project
entitlement. We would also be operating under the new UC-N zoning,
rather than the old COR zoning. This expanded option is more
challenging, and we should discuss further when I return from Spokane.

Neil Watts, Director
Development Services Division
City of Renton
1055 S. Grady Way
Renton, WA 98057-3232
(425) 430-7218 = phone
(425) 430-7300 = fax
nwatts@ci.renton.wa.us