When Northgate Mall's owners first proposed a new theater multiplex, "The Little Mermaid" and "Indiana Jones" were in their first runs.

But then came neighborhood protests, lawsuits and a political stalemate that kept Northgate in a development deep freeze for 15 years.

Now, plans for a 16-screen multiplex and mall expansion are back on track. The boxy brick mall in the sea of asphalt off Interstate 5 in North Seattle will hardly be recognizable in three years. Here's what's coming:

• A community center and library branch, financed by Seattle voter-approved bonds.

• About 100,000 square feet more shopping space, the biggest addition to Northgate since it opened in 1950 as one of the nation's first suburban shopping centers.

• The cineplex and nearly 500 apartments, condos and senior housing.

• A landscaped water channel, elaborate stormwater filtering technology, paths for pedestrians and landscaping along Fifth Avenue Northeast.

It's a win for Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and City Council, who broke the Northgate deadlock by lifting restrictions on development in exchange for concessions from property owners.

In contrast to Northgate's recent history, community groups appear happy with the plans.

"I keep pinching myself, it just seems too amazing, but I think it's reality," said Janet Way, one of the leaders of the Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund, which had sued to block previous Northgate development plans, insisting on the waterway and environmental improvements.

All this hasn't come easily. Developers say Northgate has come to represent Seattle planning gridlock at its worst: a cumbersome, time-consuming process that gave neighborhood groups near-veto power.

The bickering meant Northgate missed targets for housing and job growth under state growth-management rules. With its plans tied up in reviews and court fights, Simon Property Group, Northgate's owner, had to watch as the mall's competitors in Alderwood, Bellevue Square and University Village grew and renovated.

"So much process"

"There is so much process here in Seattle," said Brian Regan, who proposed 300 apartments north of the mall and lost $200,000 bailing out of the project when the city imposed a development moratorium. "So many interest groups try to block and delay projects that meet the zoning code."

But neighborhood leaders who successfully fought off successive waves of development plans at Northgate say they have no regrets. What's finally getting built will be far more friendly to pedestrians, the environment and the neighborhood, they say.

"The lesson is, you can fight City Hall," said Jan Brucker, chairwoman of Citizens for a Livable Northgate. "You have to have some clarity of vision and consistency of message. We had a very small but dedicated group, and we were tireless."

The fight dates to the late 1980s. Northgate Mall's owner at the time — Youngstown, Ohio-based Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. — proposed roughly doubling the mall by adding a second level and about a million square feet of shopping areas, restaurants and a cinema.

Neighbors rebelled, worried that traffic jams would get worse. More than 1,000 people petitioned City Council, which by 1990 was already feeling citywide anti-growth sentiment.

The council halted development at Northgate pending a study of traffic improvements, and later enacted a permanent policy that effectively kept development at bay.

Salmon stalemate

In 1998, after a new freeway ramp solved one of the traffic bottlenecks, Northgate's new owner, Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, tried again to expand. After years of studies and meetings, Simon won city approval for a 1 million-square-foot mall expansion, including a hotel and cineplex — only to be halted by lawsuits.

This time there was a new player: salmon. The Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund, a neighborhood environmental group, sued to halt the expansion, saying runoff from the mall would hurt efforts to revive the creek's salmon run.

Simon prevailed in court, but by then it was 2002, and the region was in recession. Simon no longer wanted to build what it had proposed, but changing the plans would have restarted the neighborhood review process.

Things remained stuck until 2003, when Mayor Nickels and the City Council struck the deal to try to revive Northgate's development. With the city ready to build a new library and community center, they sought developers' commitments to build housing and make the area more pedestrian-friendly.

The city streamlined the Northgate building-permit process and set up an advisory panel of neighborhood groups, environmentalists, developers and property owners.

Around the same time, Northgate attracted the interest of a developer, Seattle's Lorig Associates, with lots of experience in public-private developments and delicate negotiations with neighbors.

Lorig — which had recently finished Uwajimaya Village Apartments, a mixed-use development in the Chinatown International District — agreed to buy about 6 acres of parking lot south of the mall from Simon and develop around the planned water channel.

Lorig's project manager, Steve Bolliger, says it's the most complex development he's worked on, "a very interactive process — a real jigsaw with a lot of pieces."

Lorig is planning to build 255 apartments, about 110 condos, and in a joint venture with ERA Care, 125 units of senior housing, Bolliger said. On the west side, Lorig plans the theater complex, retail space and a 500-space parking garage that can be used by Northgate park-and-ride commuters during the day and moviegoers at night.

Seattle Public Utilities plans to build the Thornton Creek channel on 2.7 acres of land that cuts diagonally through the Lorig property.

The project will divert stormwater from Northgate Mall through a channel landscaped with soil and native plants to filter the water and slow it down before it reaches Thornton Creek. The bottom of the channel will keep its stormwater pipe to prevent flooding during heavy rains.

The 2003 agreement between Nickels and the City Council "was a big milestone," Bolliger said. "It allowed everyone to feel like they could walk away with a win here."

The Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund is one of the big winners but Way isn't declaring victory until the creek is once again teeming with chinook.

"We'll be looking forward to seeing those fish crossing Fifth Avenue," she said.

Tom Boyer: 206-464-2923 or tboyer@seattletimes.com