Federal Reserve Building to Go to Auction
The General Services Administration has announced that the Federal Reserve Building will go up for auction on December 5th with an opening bid of $5M. The closing date for bids is January 28th, 2015.
From the GSA website:
At the close of the auction, the high bid will be considered for acceptance by the Government. The Government reserves the right to reject any or all bids for any reason.
The building cannot be demolished because of historic preservation regulations (although the zoning for that area would allow unlimited height if those regulations did not apply to the building).
That right there will severely limit the number of bidders.
So, the district could try to bid on it and obviously, set a limit on how high they go. I suspect the money could be found a number of ways. Of course, then it would be quite awhile for the district to find the real money to renovate it. Is that worth it? Possibly.
Or, as one commenter at the Times said, "Here is an opportunity for civic donors to step up..." "They can buy the building at auction and gift it to the district."
There's a thought.
From the GSA website:
At the close of the auction, the high bid will be considered for acceptance by the Government. The Government reserves the right to reject any or all bids for any reason.
The building cannot be demolished because of historic preservation regulations (although the zoning for that area would allow unlimited height if those regulations did not apply to the building).
That right there will severely limit the number of bidders.
So, the district could try to bid on it and obviously, set a limit on how high they go. I suspect the money could be found a number of ways. Of course, then it would be quite awhile for the district to find the real money to renovate it. Is that worth it? Possibly.
Or, as one commenter at the Times said, "Here is an opportunity for civic donors to step up..." "They can buy the building at auction and gift it to the district."
There's a thought.
Comments
There's a process outlined in the municipal code: http://clerk.seattle.gov/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?d=CODE&s1=25.12.835.snum.&Sect5=CODE1&Sect6=HITOFF&l=20&p=1&u=/~public/code1.htm&r=1&f=G
However, it seems to be up to the decision of the landmarks board whether to grant that request.
Or even have the Fed Reserve bldg be an option-type (specialty, like STEAM school for older grades?) I know the downtown folks want an elementary but the upcoming capacity need is HS, right? Plus high schoolers can navigate themselves on Metro to get there.
-just wondering
Many more options with that kind of ability.
Interesting idea on the JSCEE/downtown switch. I initially went, nah. But, if you moved just the administrative part (as they have maintenance there as well as the only district kitchen), it might work. Parking, though, would be an issue.
Chip
Maybe some wealthy business owners could contribute to this. They have certainly profited from our community and could give something back.
S parent
I also think it is a good idea to consider selling the John Stanford Center and moving administrative offices to Amgen property.
There is talk of putting a UW Campus on the Amgen property. Combining a high school/ college campus is a good idea.
I'd seen a report on the Federal Reserve bld...it is FULL of asbestos.
S parent
Watching, I think that's a fantastic idea and even better opp than Federal Reserve Building. If I had the time, I'd try to move that forward.