Paul Allen Is Buying Seattle’s Union Station

Paul Allen has embarked on a $250 million project to buy and restore the Union Station in Seattle, across the train tracks from where his new football stadium will be built.

Allen said Thursday that he and Seattle developer Nitze-Stagen & Co. would buy the historic train station and surrounding properties. The partnership will restore the historic terminal, complete its environmental cleanup and provide a portion of the station for community use.

Ultimately, the project will provide over 1 million square feet of office space.

The station between Pioneer Square and the International District has long been vacant. It is next door to King Street Station, which is used by Amtrak.

Union Station is next to the southern terminal of the Metro bus tunnel and within walking distance of the Kingdome, which will be torn down to build a new stadium for the Seattle Seahawks, which Allen bought this summer.

Allen said the first phase of development calls for building a 1,100-stall parking garage and the infrastructure for new office buildings. Phase two involves restoring the station for a tenant, and possible reuse as a passenger train terminal. The third phase includes developing five new office buildings, totaling more than 1.1 million square feet, and another 500-stall parking garage.

Full development of the 7-1/2-acre site is expected to be completed within five years.

“This partnership perfectly fits Paul Allen’s criteria for development,” said Bill Savoy, president of Vulcan Northwest, Allen’s management company. “It respects and restores important neighborhood assets, it responds to community concerns by cleaning up a site that has been contaminated for over 100 years, and it offers a framework for thoughtful development of the remaining property.”

Work is to begin next month, with the first phase of the parking garage opening in late summer 1998. Construction on the first office building could begin by late next year.

When not in use by future tenants and neighborhood events, the new garage is expected to be used on Seahawk game days and for consumer shows, to complement parking available at the new stadium and exhibition center complex.

In addition to the Seahawks, Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, owns the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and has investments in some 35 technology companies.

Nitze-Stagen owns or manages more than 3 million square feet of offices south of downtown Seattle.