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"title": "Mayor signs legislation to fill vacant storefronts, extend housing permits",
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"text": "♪♪\n♪♪\n-It's all about arts and culture,\neverything we do is about activation and expression\nand SDOT director Adiam Emery.\nThank you for being here as well\nand your great transportation leadership,\nwhich is gotten some attention, some good attention lately.\nI also want to thank Lincoln Property\nfor hosting us here today at the state of the art 225th building.\nThis is amazing, isn't it?\nI'm talking about the weather by the way.\nThis site is amazing,\nthe architectural statements that are made, the feel of it\nand most importantly\nwhat we're trying to do to activate this area.\nAnd support the growing life sciences and biotechnology\nhub here in South Lake Union.\nWe know that this is an incredible industry,\none we do not take for advantage -- for -- take,\nWhat's the word I'm trying to find?\nFor granted. It's been a long week so far.\nCreating over 25,000 jobs in the sector here in King County,\nWashington and just do amazing work for global health\nand regional health and the kinds of things\nthey're working on.\nYou know we get criticized from the other Washington\nfor some of our commitments to things like equity and gender\nfairness, and climate change.\nWe get attacked for our belief in science and how we are,\nwe believe in the benefits of research grants at a time\nwhere we have to fight for this kind of commitment.\nAnd I have leaders around me that will talk more about that,\nbut the fact is, is housing, jobs,\nand a diversity of small businesses\nare critical to our economic vitality.\nCritical to us being vibrant here in downtown\nand a little north of downtown.\nDowntown runs on people.\nOn small businesses, on ideas.\nAnd our downtown activation plan,\nthat I'm very proud of the planning\nthat we did,\nbut most importantly the implementation as well.\nAnd I want to thank our Office of Economic Development\nand that regard as well.\nWe are making progress again to make downtown safe,\nthriving, vibrant, and critical neighborhood for residents,\nworkers and visitors alike.\nSo, the first piece of legislation\nwe'll be signing this morning\nwill help fill vacant storefronts by expanding\nground level commercial uses.\nWhich will in effect boost our economy\nand activate our streets with more people.\nIn this particular facility, again in the biotech space,\nwe couldn't be more excited.\nThis will broaden the pull of tenants for ground floor spaces\nand allowing more entrepreneurs,\nand free thinkers and small business owners\nto call downtown Seattle home.\nAnd we actively recruit these types of tenants\nand we're excited about what we're seeing.\nNew businesses will be allowed on ground floor areas.\nThis will include medical offices,\nresearch and development,\nlaboratories, food processing, horticultural operations,\ncrafts, manufacturing, art installations and many more.\nAnd again I want to thank SDCI for their wisdom\nin thinking about how we can think outside of the box.\nAnd indeed, Chief Operating Officer Marco Lowe\nand his group for the housing work.\nThe housing ideas that have come forward in this work.\nThe second piece of legislation\nwill extend building permits for projects previously vested\nunder our old codes.\nAnd this will in effect allow projects to proceed\nwithout the time and cost of applying for new permits.\nWe think this is a critical strategy,\nwhich by extending these permits,\nit will prevent hopefully the potential loss\nof 29,000 planned units of housing.\nIncluding many affordable housing units and housing\nprojects planned for downtown.\nAnd you'll from Chris Persons later.\nAnd I want to thank Chris and his organization,\nCommunity Roots, for doing the work that they are doing.\nThese affordable housing units and housing\nprojects planned for downtown not only house people,\nwhich is the most important thing,\nthey also produce about $13.4 million in sales tax\nand $75 million in MHA fees.\nSo it's a win-win scenario\nwhen we're trying to do this kind of work.\nSo we know that in a challenging economic environment right now\nand that's why I'm so pleased to see my department heads here.\nWe have a One Seattle approach trying\nto look at our entire system and think, what makes sense\nas we deal with some of our fiscal challenges.\nSo, I close by thanking Councilmember Mark Solomon\nfor his leadership in sharing the land use committee,\nhe's been focused on its expanding economic opportunities\nand creating new housing\nand supporting small businesses throughout the entire city.\nAnd of course he's been with the city for a while,\nmaking sure, in the public safety realm,\nthings are going along the way,\nhe wants to see them as a crime prevention specialist,\na subject matter expert.\nAnd now he uses his expertise in other areas.\nAnd so as land use chair,\ncouncil member Solomon has been strong work\nto get this legislation over the finish line\nand we look forward to continuing our with him.\nAnd I present to you Councilmember Mark Solomon.\n-Thank you, Mayor Harrell.\n[ Applause ]\nGood morning, everyone. Thank you for being here.\nI'm happy to be here with you\ntoday to celebrate this new piece of legislation.\nWhich will help revitalize key areas of downtown Seattle.\nToday we're introducing new law\nthat allows for more flexible uses of ground floor spaces\nin key areas of our city's court.\nAnd this legislation opens the door for a broader range\nof vital police defining businesses\nand creative commercial designed.\nMaking it easier for entrepreneurs,\nscientific research groups and local vendors\nto bring fresh ideas to our downtown streets.\nAnd as we continue recovering from the impacts COVID-19,\nwe know that reestablishing the character\nof our changing downtown, is imperative.\nWhat people want and need from our city spaces is evolving.\nAnd this law responds directly to that shift.\nIn a powers property owners\nand small business owners with more freedom\nto shape their spaces in ways that serve the community.\nWhether that means a pop-up shop, or a small restaurant,\nor a ground floor\nwhich contributes to the research and development.\nThat will alter how we interact with our world.\nOr even something we haven't imagined yet.\nVery critically I want to thank many stakeholders\nwho helped shaped this policy and the SDCI staff\nand the Mayor's staff.\nWho worked extremely hard,\nturning stakeholder feedback in a new legislation\nto revitalize our downtown.\nI also got to give a shout out to my policy guy,\nThaddeus Gregory.\nWho did a heavy, a lot of heavy lifting on this himself.\nI'm not going to let the fact that he worked on\nthis go unnoticed.\nSo, thank you.\nTogether we're building a vibrant downtown.\nIt's not just recovering, but finding new vibrant life.\nAnd paving the way for a stronger, more resilient future.\nSo, thank you.\n-Thank you Councilmember Solomon.\n[ Applause ]\nAnd I also, Nathan I didn't see you standing there,\nI want to recognize Nathan Torgelson,\nwho is the SDCI Director,\nthank you for your leadership and your groups leadership.\nNext you'll hear from SungYang,\nI think many of you know who he is,\nChair of the Downtown Seattle Association Board\nand the Principal at Pacific Public Affairs.\nAnd has over two decades of experience\nmanaging public policy. Sung every time I introduce you,\nyou just omit the part that you work for the City of Seattle,\nI don't know what your slow plan is on this here.\nAs where I met you.\nA former public servant Sung has been a champion for arts\nand economic development in our downtown neighborhoods\nand thank you for your consistent\nand strong leadership.\nSung Yang. -Thank you, Mayor.\n[ Applause ]\nGood morning, everybody.\nI do want to start by thanking Mayor Harrell\nfor this legislation.\nAnd also for really his unwavering dedication,\ncommitment and hard work.\nNobody works harder at making downtown thrive\nthan Mayor Harrell and I want to truly thank him for that.\nI also want to thank Councilmember Solomon\nfor spearheading this effort at the council\nand for rallying his colleagues around its approval.\nAnd everyone else here in this room\nthat brought us to this really historic occasion\nof the passage of these two pieces of legislation.\nDowntown's revitalization,\ncontinued revitalization is critical for the entire city.\nAs the regions economic engine\nwhat happens in the core of Seattle,\nradiates far beyond its footprint.\nAs you walk through the heart of downtown\nyou will see foot traffic reminiscent\nof pre-pandemic times.\nAnd many of our public spaces full of activity and vibrancy.\nBut far too many of our storefronts remain empty\nand that doesn't send a message\nthat matches with the trajectory and reality\nof downtown's upper trajectory.\nThis legislation will help fill vacant ground floor spaces\nin downtown neighborhoods.\nFilling gaps in our urban fabric,\nproducing even more activity on our streets.\nAnd driving our revitalization efforts forward.\nDowntown needs to have a diversity of businesses\nto serve its diverse population of residents,\nworkers and visitors.\nBy allowing new business types to be located,\nhere, we are also creating opportunities\nfor entrepreneurs to call downtown home.\nAnd setting up shop,\ndowntown should feel like an attainable goal.\nHere today at a new state of the art life sciences facility\nwe are recognizing how our downtown is also a hub\nfor research and development.\nA critical industry in our city,\nthat can now expand to ground floor spaces\nunder this legislation.\nDowntown has made a tremendous comeback over the last few years\nunder the Mayor's activation plan, Mayor's leadership,\nthe work of the council\nand of the Downtown Seattle Association.\nData from Downtown Seattle Association downtown's\nrevitalization dashboard shows that in March\nwe saw a post-pandemic high of nearly 101,000 workers downtown\non an average per day.\nIn the third month of Amazon's return to five days a week\nin the office, the South Lake Union,\nin the Denny Regrade neighborhood,\nsaw daily worker foot traffic of nearly 48,000.\nNumbers that are trending closer to pre-pandemic conditions.\nAnd in a significant, significant development,\nlocal visitors and these are people\nwho live within 10 miles of downtown\nare coming to the center city at an increasing rate.\nIn fact,\nin March 2025 the number of local visitors\nto downtown surpassed pre-pandemic levels.\nSo working with the city and our partners,\nwe will continue this momentum\nand we're excited to welcome new business to downtown.\nThank you very much.\n-Thank you, Sung.\n[ Applause ]\nThank you, Sung.\nNext you're going to hear from Alex Aigner,\nwho is the Executive Vice President of Development\nat Lincoln Property Company.\nOverseeing the firms redevelopment projects\nthroughout Washington and Oregon including right here at 225th.\nAnd Lincoln's development pipeline\nin the pacific northwest\nincludes over 1,500 multi-family units.\nAnd more than 500,000 square feet of commercial,\nretail and life science developments.\nThis is the, Lincoln's exactly the kind of company\nwe recruit and we want to stay here,\nbecause there is such a vital,\nthey play such a vital role in our success.\nAlex, please take the mic.\n-Thank you. Good morning.\nThank you Mayor Harrell and Councilmember Solomon.\nThank you for everyone involved at the city\nfor all your hard work to push this legislation through.\nThank you to Ian Morrison,\nour Land Use Council at McCullough Hill Leary\nfor all the hard work that you've done as well.\nMy name is Alex Aigner,\nI am an Executive Vice President at Lincoln Property Company.\nAnd with our partners,\nIntercontinental Real Estate Corporation,\nwe developed, own and manage this life science building.\nWe want to express our sincere appreciation to the Mayor\nand to Council Solomon for your leadership\nin passing this important legislation.\nBy expanding the types of street level uses permitted\nin our buildings,\nyou're helping unlock opportunities for innovation,\nactivation and connection in key parts of our city.\nThis is a kind of regulatory flexibility,\nit's exactly what we need right now to bring new life\ninto our ground floor spaces. These uses attract foot traffic,\ncreate jobs and contribute to a more engaging\nand walkable urban experience.\nAt 225th we're matching the city's\nforward thinking policy by reimagining\nhow space can be used.\nSo we've launched CoLabs,\na biotech incubator designed\nto support early stage life science companies in Seattle.\nThrough CoLabs we provide flexible lab space\nand operational support to help startups grow,\nattract investment and scale.\nOur goal is to ensure the next generation of biotech companies,\nnot only start in Seattle,\nbut grow here and thrive here.\nAnd help position Seattle as a key hub in the nation\nfor medical research.\nThank you again Mayor and Councilman\nfor taking this bold and thoughtful action.\nThis legislation is a meaningful step to a more vibrant,\nresilient and inclusive downtown.\nAnd Lincoln Property Company and Intercontinental\nare proud to be a part of it.\n-Thank you, Alex.\n[ Applause ]\nNext our closer.\nDo you remember the show, this is bad, this here's 222,\ndo you remember the show Room 222?\nDo any of you remember that?\n-I do.\n-You are, you and I are the only ones to remember that.\nYou remember it too, okay, it was a popular show,\nI was going to try to weave that into the room.\nOkay, so that's what I first thought of\nwhen I saw that address.\n-I was very young.\n-You were very, I was in college, no I'm just kidding.\nSo as many of you know because the great work\nthat Christopher and his organizations done,\nhe's the CEO of Community Roots Housing since 2007\nand he's led the organization through significant growth.\nAnd many award winning housing projects and.\nWe know he'll be retiring later this year\nand we want to thank you Christopher,\nyou're just untiring energy and commitment\nto affordable housing\nand a strong partnership with the city of Seattle.\nAnd all the work you've done to address housing affordability.\nSo closer, Chris, take us home.\nAlright. -Thank you, Mayor.\n[ Applause ]\nThank you, all.\nAgain, my names is Chris Persons,\nI'm the CEO of Community Roots Housing.\nWe own and operate 46 properties in Seattle\ncomprising almost 2,000 affordable apartments.\nWe also have three new projects under construction\ntoday comprising nearly 400 more.\nAnd our future development pipeline includes\nmore than 700 additional homes.\nCommunity Roots Housing has been developing\nand operating affordable multi-family properties\nin Seattle for 50 years.\nAnd every year it gets harder and more expensive.\nI tell, if you've got IT professionals that work for you,\nor an IT team this might resonate with you.\nI tell my IT director, who I love, I tell him, all the time,\njust make it easier for me to do work.\nAll I want to do is work and get my job done.\nAs a prominent affordable housing developer,\nall I want to do is build more affordable housing.\nMake it easier for us to do our work.\nAnd that's what this legislation does.\nThank you to City Council and Mayor Harrell\nfor making this no-nonsense legislation happen.\nBy allowing Community Roots projects\nthat have temporarily stalled due to pandemic related delays.\nTo allow these projects to move forward\nunder the very stringent energy codes,\nthey were already designed for,\nsaves us millions of dollars in redesign and development costs.\nAnd allows our projects to move forward.\nEnsuring that affordable housing will be delivered\nto low income communities.\nSeattle remains one of the most environmentally\nsustainable city's in the country.\nThe buildings\nthat Community Roots Housing has developed based on a 2015\nand 2018 codes are greener\nand more energy efficient than at any time in history.\nAnd they all\ncomply with stringent\nWashington State Evergreen\nSustainable Development Standards.\nAs we continue to work together to resolve the housing crisis\nin our city,\nI look forward to continuing to work closely with Mayor Harrell,\nthe City Council and the entire city.\nTo rapidly develop affordable housing,\nwhile never compromising on our commitment to sustainability.\nThank you. -Thank you, Chris.\n[ Applause ]\nThank you, Chris.\nSo we're going to sign some legislation.\nAnd I want to,\nagain, thank you for the community leaders and\nhousing leaders in potential tenants doing this great work.\nAnd particularly our departments here.\nOur One Seattle Approach you're going to see right\nwhere we need it to be, which is vibrant, active, fun,\njoyful on a great day.\nSo thank you for being here,\nand let's sign some legislation so I can -- Pass me some pens.\nOkay.\n-Right here, Mayor. One, two, and three.\nOne, two, and three. Thank you.\n-Yay!\n[ Cheers and applause ]"
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