S.F. hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen said that he has "locked up the remaining property" needed for a Seattle arena, and the "sales should start closing this week," according to Eric Pryne of the SEATTLE TIMES. Hanson said yesterday that most of the property sales "should close within the next three months." He also "revealed for the first time that he is buying 'a considerable piece' of the block just north of the arena site, and is considering ancillary uses there." He "wouldn't identify the properties or say more about the plans for them." Some "possible uses could include parking, a team practice facility or a team store." Hansen also said that he "could buy still more Sodo property before he's done." He "wouldn't say what he has agreed to pay for the properties," which total about 2.3 acres (SEATTLE TIMES, 4/11). In Seattle, Joel Connelly asks, "Doesn't anybody at City Hall appreciate that Seattle has a working waterfront?" Connelly: "We have a waterfront with a serious east-west access problem, moving cargoes away from the Port of Seattle toward distant markets and bringing products to the waterfront." The congestion, "right now, is worst in exactly the environs where Mr. Hansen is proposing to build his sports arena." Connelly: "We want major league franchises, almost as an act of self-affirmation. ... The danger now is that Seattle's city fathers/mothers will compound the error and mess up the waterfront" (SEATTLEPI.com, 4/11).
