M’S Group Buys Land

The board overseeing construction of a new Seattle Mariners stadium has reached deals to buy out five property owners whose buildings must be torn down to make way for the ballpark.

Two other property owners will face condemnation proceedings if they don’t reach deals with the stadium district soon.

Monday’s deals, totaling $18 million, involve five warehouses in the area south of the Kingdome where the new 45,611-seat stadium will be built. With those properties, the stadium district has 18 of the 19.6 acres the ballpark will occupy.

A new report says that if the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks stick around and get a new stadium, two sites near Kent appear to be the best options.

The report on five possible sites - four of them south of the city and one to the east - was prepared by the HOK Sport architecture firm in Kansas City for the Kingdome Renovation Task Force, and Football Northwest, Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen’s group.

Allen paid $20 million for an option to buy the team and is considering whether to go through with the purchase.

Football Northwest considered 40 or 50 sites before settling on the five given further study by HOK, assistant Kingdome director Jim Kelley, who is assisting the task force, said Tuesday.

One of the Kent sites, on Orillia Road near South 200th Street, has a view of Mount Rainier and would be the cheapest to acquire.