Seattle Center proposals get final public hearing

Backers of a Dale Chihuly glass exhibit at Seattle Center stressed their proposal's financial advantage at a public meeting Wednesday night.

While backers of many of the eight other proposals for a 1-½-acre site at Seattle Center are hoping for donations or public funds to pay for them, the Chihuly exhibit would be built with private money from the Space Needle Corp.

Finances may play a big role in deciding which of the proposals is ultimately selected. Of the selection committee's nine criteria for the selection process, three have to do with revenue.

Seattle Center is a public park, but it must generate revenue to pay some of its bills. In 2008, it completed an ambitious master plan. With a levy to fund that plan off the table for now, any bidders for the site, once occupied by the Fun Forest, probably would need to come up with their own funding and even generate money for the Center.

In its proposal, the Space Needle Corp. said a Chihuly exhibit would require no public funds and over 20 years would bring $24 million to the city in lease money and taxes.

The point was made over and over in a two-hour public hearing.

"The Center relies on its private partnership to gain revenue for the Center," said Belltown resident Darren Williams. "At the heart of the matter is financial viability."

Supporters of a proposal to move the studio of nonprofit radio station KEXP to the Center testified that the station's mission of helping people discover new music could be expanded to Seattle Center. That project also would be self-funding and financially viable, they pointed out.

"KEXP in the Seattle Center will do for this city what 'Prairie Home Companion' did for the Twin Cities, what 'Austin City Limits' did for that city," said James Utzschneider, a member of KEXP's advisory board.

KEXP wouldn't charge for 500 planned live performances a year and would pay the going rate for rent at the Center, according to its proposal. Other speakers suggested that KEXP instead move its studio into Experience Music Project.

In March, the Space Needle Corp. unveiled a proposal for a 44,000-square-foot, paid-entry Dale Chihuly glass exhibit on the site at the foot of the Space Needle. The initial proposal was to allow Chihuly complete artistic control over the space and to charge about $15 for entry.

After City Council members and members of the public complained about a lack of public process, Seattle Center agreed to accept other proposals for the site.

Those proposals include the new KEXP studio, two open-space proposals, a new site for Capitol Hill's Museum of the Mysteries and a Native American cultural center.

Backers of an open-space proposal called "Open Platform" said they could join KEXP or another proposal to design the outdoor space.

Wednesday's public hearing was the only scheduled chance for public input before a panel made up of members of the Century 21 Committee, which wrote the 2008 master plan, makes recommendation to Seattle Center Director Robert Nellams.

Selection committee Chairman Bill Block said the group will ask questions of the proponents of the various proposals and then forward an analysis to Nellams. The committee might recommend one, two or three of the proposals, he said.

Nellams will forward his recommendation to Mayor Mike McGinn, whose selection would require approval by the City Council.

Chihuly proponents have been lobbying the council. After an April hearing, backers of that plan were criticized because they'd arrived two hours early to ensure its supporters would be first to speak.

At Wednesday's meeting, each person was allowed to sign up two speakers at most. Still, the Chihuly exhibit had more speakers in its support than any other proposal.

Information from The Seattle Times archives was used in this report.

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com