Security Properties, the Seattle developer that has been studying the feasibility of building a multi-family housing project on the site of the Northgate South Lot, has asked Northgate Mall owner Simon Property Group for more time before making its decision whether to proceed with plans to purchase the 12.8-acre property.

Simon, whose contract with Security Properties expired on Sept. 15, has yet to respond to the extension request.

Jeanne Muir, a spokeswoman for Security Properties, said the developer, which has been in talks with the City and several community groups over its plans for the South Lot, is not ready to commit the millions of dollars needed to buy the property, "but they are not interested in walking away" from the project either.

One chief sticking point is whether the stretch of Thornton Creek that currently flows beneath the South Lot in an underground culvert can be daylighted, as members of the Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund and Citizens for a Liveable Northgate are urging, and if so, to what extent and at whose expense?

TCLDF and CFLN, the two groups that have gone to court to get Thornton Creek daylighted at Northgate, recently submitted a daylighting plan that the City has already indicated it is unlikely to support with funding. The Maple Leaf Community Council also recently weighed into the debate, stating its support for daylighting, but cautioning that other issues need to be addressed as well, including the need for traffic mitigation and siting the City's proposed Northgate Community Center and Library.