Little Saigon project's compromise effort stalls

When community activists and a developer clashed over a $300 million project on the Goodwill site in Seattle's Little Saigon, the City Council hired a $13,000 facilitator to help the two sides reach a compromise.

Three months and six meetings later, talks have stalled, and a protest is planned.

At a Wednesday news conference Dearborn Street Developers announced it would double the amount of affordable housing in the project and subsidize small-business rents.

The developers want to build a Redmond Town Center-style complex with 550 apartments and 600,000 square feet of shopping including a Lowe's and a Target. Goodwill would give them the land on South Dearborn Street in exchange for a new store and training center there.

Darrell Vange, one of the developers, said the plan for affordable apartments and small-business rent subsidies "is very, very close to what the community input has been regarding what they want to see on the site."

But the activists, members of the Dearborn Street Coalition for a Livable Neighborhood, said Wednesday's announcement didn't address other concerns such as union-wage jobs, assistance for Little Saigon's businesses and help with transportation and environmental issues.

The group plans a protest march April 21.

"We want to see development there. We just want to make sure it's responsible to the neighborhood around it," said Quang H. Nguyen, co-chair of the community coalition. "It just seems to us the developer doesn't seem to give a damn about the neighborhoods around there."

The facilitator, Rita Brogan, from the firm PRR, said that while talks didn't produce complete agreement, "there are many things that people agree about." She plans to send her final report to the city today.

The developers still need city approval for a rezoning and other permits.

Vange said the developers would make 36 percent of the apartments affordable, adding 100 units to the 100 previously promised. Seattle Housing Authority will develop the units.

Half would be set aside for senior citizens with incomes of 30 to 50 percent of the area's median income; the other half would be reserved for people making less than the median income.

The affordable housing would allow developers to qualify for federal tax credits.

The developers also pledged to spend $1 million over 10 years to subsidize rents for five to 20 "locally owned ma-and-pa ethnic retail community businesses."

Nguyen called it "a raindrop in the ocean." He estimated the subsidies would reduce projected rent from $40 per square foot to about $28. Little Saigon rents are now about $15, he said.

"Quite honestly, I thought it was going to be a long shot to mediate between the two since it was really clear what they wanted," said Council President Nick Licata. "On the other hand, if they got an additional 100 units of affordable housing, at least something came out of it."

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com