Landlords emerge as foes to monorail

By J. Martin McOmber
Seattle Times business reporter

Martin Selig has put money into Monorail Recall.

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But now the senior vice president of Equity Office Properties considers himself squarely among the system's skeptics.

And that's bad news for monorail advocates.

With a possible vote to kill the monorail project looming in November, Seattle's major commercial-property owners have emerged as the most vocal and powerful critics of the $1.75 billion elevated transit system. It's a dramatic change from 2002, when landlords split over the successful monorail ballot measure, which narrowly was approved by city voters.

Some large-property owners remain supportive of the monorail.

But overall enthusiasm has waned as landlords perform their own calculus of whether the Green Line will harm or help the city's commercial core, where they have billions of dollars tied up in land and buildings.

What Callahan says about the monorail in meetings and at cocktail parties carries a lot of weight. His company controls 5 million square feet of prime office space in downtown Seattle — much of it along the proposed line. And he changed his mind about the monorail after construction started on the first segment of the Sound Transit light-rail line and the costs of replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct became clear.

Recall attempt The proposed Initiative 83, nicknamed the "Monorail Recall" measure, would ban city permits to the Green Line monorail on Seattle streets and sidewalks, effectively halting the project. Paid signature gatherers and volunteers, bankrolled mainly by developer Martin Selig, have collected enough names to put I-83 on the November ballot. However, it might be thrown out because of two legal challenges filed by the Seattle Monorail Project and its backers. A key hearing is scheduled Aug. 13 to consider SMP's argument that I-83 violates land-use codes and the state Growth Management Act, which protects transit projects.

"The world has changed since 2002," Callahan said. "We need to invest our limited resources in projects that provide the greatest benefit for the community in terms of transportation."

The monorail recall effort, Initiative 83, has been fueled largely by money from property owners.

The vast majority of that money has come from maverick developer Martin Selig, who owns a lot of property along the proposed route. He has poured more than $136,000 in cash and in-kind contributions into Monorail Recall.

Ken Alhadeff of Alhadeff Properties, a longtime civic activist, has contributed $2,500 to the campaign. Developer Greg Smith, another downtown property owner, has donated $1,000 through his Marion Building partnership.

The measure, which would block or revoke city permits to construct the Green Line, will go on November's ballot unless the Seattle Monorail Project succeeds in blocking the effort in court.

Other landlords have thrown their support to OnTrack, a watchdog group that is sharply critical of the monorail project but not directly associated with the anti-monorail vote.

The list includes Equity Office, which controls six downtown skyscrapers and is the region's largest office owner; Unico Properties, which manages four blocks of downtown Seattle, including Rainier Square and the IBM Building; and Matt Griffin of the Pine Street Group, which built the Pacific Place mall and is developing Washington Mutual's downtown high-rise.

OnTrack, a private group, does not disclose how much money supporters have contributed.

Taken together, the landlords behind OnTrack and the recall effort control some $2 billion in property downtown, based on tax records.

"To some extent, you can look at this as the big-time NIMBYs [people who say 'not in my backyard']," said Peter Sherwin, who sponsored a pro-monorail initiative, which was approved by a narrow margin of city voters. "This is where they own buildings. And similar to every neighborhood with a sewage-treatment plant or transit line, they just don't want it where they are."

Seattle Monorail Project spokeswoman Natasha Jones says the Green Line is being built to benefit more than just commercial-property owners. She said a host of other groups, including environmentalists, commuters and many businesses owners, back the line.

"A large number of people have worked night and day to bring this to fruition. You can't discount them just because they don't own a building," she said. "This came from grass roots and people who were tired of being stuck in their cars. You have to look at that, too."

Questioning logistics

Two years ago, Selig contributed $2,500 to Citizens Against the Monorail. This time, he's staking far more on the fight.

Selig's money allowed the I-83 campaign to hire the workers who helped collect some 36,700 signatures, which monorail foes hope will assure a place on the ballot. He also is providing office space for the recall effort in one of his office buildings.

The monorail would cut through a cluster of low-rise office buildings that makes up the brunt of his real-estate holdings these days.

But Selig insists he is not a NIMBY, and that he is motivated not by how the monorail will affect his property but by a desire to stop what he considers a deeply flawed project.

Like Selig, the other landlords who have been most vocal say their concerns with the monorail run deeper than property values.

They question whether the current car-tab tax will generate enough revenue to pay for construction of the line, as promised by the Seattle Monorail Project.

They also question whether the agency can build a critical station at Second Avenue and Madison Street on property now owned by the federal government. That station, they say, is essential to serving riders who need to get downtown.

Most say they'd rather see money spent on replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel and fixing the waterfront's ailing seawall before pouring it into the monorail.

"How much money is the average person going to dig in their pockets for to pay for the viaduct, light rail and monorail," said Greg Smith, who is planning to build a 36-story condominium at Second Avenue and Pike Street. "The real-estate community is just trying to raise these points before they are overlooked."

More than any other landlord, Equity Office, along with its largest tenant, Washington Mutual, would feel the monorail's effect. Four of Equity's office buildings sit along Second Avenue, where the line would run through the heart of downtown Seattle.

Washington Mutual, which supports OnTrack, also is building a 40-story tower at Second Avenue and Union Street.

Property owners along Second Avenue successfully lobbied to move the monorail track farther from their buildings.

Officials with the Seattle Monorail Project released a study last year that found property values near rapid-transit stations in San Francisco, Vancouver and Portland all increased. The study also found that rental rates for offices along the existing monorail line haven't suffered. But Griffin, who is developing Washington Mutual's tower, argues that the monorail will make it harder to rent floors near the elevated tracks and will ruin sidewalk life by casting shadows on the shops and restaurants along the line.

"Basically, the people who are supposed to benefit believe it is actually a negative," Griffin said. "Negative not just for the value of their property but for all they have tried to do downtown to build a great pedestrian environment."

Despite increasing opposition from property owners, the larger real-estate industry remains divided.

The Building Owners and Managers Association, or BOMA, which represents nearly 600 real-estate companies, continues to support the project as long as an independent review of monorail finances finds no major problems.

"There are more members with concerns today than when this started," said Rod Kauffman, executive director for Seattle. "But we have a significant number of members on both sides."

One of the few major downtown property owners to embrace the monorail in recent months is Al Clise of Clise Properties. Clise long has owned property along the current monorail line, and he is planning to build a 17-story office building at Fifth Avenue and Bell Street, where the new monorail plans to build a stop on his property.

He expects the monorail will hurt the value of some properties — including the historic Securities Building he owns on Stewart Street — but boost the value of others by providing a convenient way to move thousands of people through the city.

"When you net it all out, we will benefit," he said. "Anytime you build a major public-works project, people will get hurt. But on the whole it will be a positive."

But Clise finds himself increasingly isolated from the rest of his land-owning colleagues.

Enthusiasm even has cooled at Vulcan, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's company, which lobbied hard to have the new monorail route pass through Allen's Experience Music Project at Seattle Center. The route also would serve Qwest Field, where Allen's Seattle Seahawks play.

Spokesman Michael Nank declined to say whether the company still supports the monorail.

"Regardless of whether one supports or opposes the monorail, it looks like it is heading back to the ballot," he said. "We are going to have to see what the voters say."

J. Martin McOmber: 206-464-2022 or mmcomber@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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