Safeco deal preserves heron colony in Redmond

By Nick Perry
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

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A slice of wilderness near the heart of Redmond that is home to several dozen herons will be preserved indefinitely after the city and the landowners reached a deal this week.

The 4.6 acres next to the Workshop Tavern on Leary Way Northeast was once slated to be one of the most intensively developed office complexes in Redmond. That was before a King County employee spotted a heron nest on the land in the mid-1990s, and conservation concerns put the development on ice.

The property, valued at $970,000, was once owned by a Safeco subsidiary and is now owned by the parent company. The deal will see Safeco donate the land to the city in exchange for being released from a $200,000 obligation to build a traffic signal at its Redmond campus near Microsoft.

After the land is declared a conservation area, Safeco will be able to sell development rights from the Leary Way site to developers elsewhere in the city. The value of those rights fluctuates with the market and may currently be about $1 million, according to the city.

Redmond Mayor Rosemarie Ives said at a meeting this week that she has long desired that the city own the land to preserve the herons and provide a green gateway to the city. Everyone gains from the deal, she said.

"We see it as mutually beneficial," said Safeco spokesman Paul Hollie. "Part of our ongoing commitment is to contribute to the neighborhoods in which we live and do business."

The heron rookery, in a patch of Douglas fir, is believed to have developed quickly in the 1990s after the great blue herons moved from another Redmond site to escape predators, said Jim Roberts, the city's assistant planning director. The herons like being close to the Sammamish River, where they can catch fish, he said. There are believed to be between 12 and 15 nests.

This week, Safeco also negotiated an increase in the size of a potential third phase of its Redmond campus, home to 2,280 employees. The company has 10 years to build the extension, which can be up to 444,000 square feet.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com

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