By CLAYTON PARK

After nearly three months of wondering whether his company is still in the running to purchase the parking lot south of Northgate Mall, John Marasco, senior vice president of Security Properties, is finally about to get his answer.

Jeanne Muir, a spokeswoman for the Seattle housing developer, told the Seattle Sun on Dec. 14 that the mall's Indianapolis-based owner, Simon Property Group, has mailed a response to Security Properties' request to revive its lapsed option to purchase the Northgate South Lot. But because Security Properties doesn't expect to receive Simon's letter until after this month's edition is sent to the printer, the Seattle Sun is unable to report at this time what Simon's answer is.

However, this much is known:

€ Security Properties let its six-month option expire in mid-September rather than pay the $20+ million Simon is asking for the South Lot because the developer wants more time to gain support from the Northgate area's various community groups for its plans to build a large multifamily housing project on the 12.8-acre site.

€ In the past couple of months, Simon has recontacted other parties known to be interested in purchasing either part or all of the South Lot property. They include King County, which has long expressed its desire to buy a four-acre western chunk of the South Lot to expand its existing Northgate Park-N-Ride, and the City, which is currently looking at potential sites for its proposed Northgate Library and Northgate Community Center. A car dealer may also have spoken with Simon about the possibility acquiring the South Lot.

Don Moody, a real estate broker with CB Richard Ellis, who Simon has hired to shop the South Lot to prospective buyers, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in an article published Dec. 6:

"We have three interested parties at this time ... there could be one (buyer) or a combination when we're done."

€ Even if Simon were to sell off portions of the South Lot to other buyers, Security Properties might still be interested in buying the remainder of the property to build its housing project, said Muir. Security Properties' plans called for building a mixed-use complex that would include multifamily housing, a grocery store, an office tower and hotel, a parking garage that could be shared with the county, and space that could accommodate the City's planned community center and/or library.

Should Simon decide to only offer a portion of the South Lot to Security Properties, Muir said "it wouldn't significantly affect our plans, or the number of housing units planned (1,000). It would just mean no commercial portion" in terms of the originally proposed office and hotel towers, "which Security Properties wouldn't have developed on its own anyway."

€ What would be uncertain, if the South Lot is split up, is how much, if any, of Thornton Creek could be daylighted. The creek was buried in an underground culvert in 1971 by Northgate Mall's then-owner, Allied Stores Corp., when it created the asphalt-covered South Lot by filling in Square Lake.

When Simon announced its plans to build a massive entertainment/retail complex on the South Lot in 1997, two community activist groups, The Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund and Citizens for a Liveable Northgate, went to court to halt those plans from being carried out unless Simon would agree to a number of conditions, including, most notably, daylighting the creek.

The drawn-out legal battle, which has yet to be resolved, prompted Simon to shelve its own development plans and put the South Lot up for sale. Security Properties won the bidding last spring, but wanted a six-month option before agreeing to buy the property outright to determine whether it could win over the community activists in a desire to avoid having its project suffer the same fate as Simon's.

Unlike Simon, Security Properties indicated a willingness to daylight Thornton Creek from the outset, but with a catch: the daylighting costs would need to be covered by someone else, presumably the City and/or County.

The prospects of that occurring dimmed in early September when officials for both the City and County indicated doubtfulness that they would pay for daylighting the creek, given the slumping economy.

Another complication arose in Security Properties' inability to win assurances from TCLDF and CFLN that they wouldn't go to court to try to block its project, even though the developer came up with a plan that included two acres for a daylighted Thornton Creek, along with two acres for open space in the form of plazas and sidewalks. The creek activists rejected that plan, saying the amount of space needed for the creek and surround buffer ought to be closer to four acres.

The creek activists and their landscape architect Peggy Gaynor proceeded to draft a counter proposal, which was then turned over to be rendered by Security Properties' own architects, whose services the developer agreed to donate. On Sept. 17, TCLDF and CFLN presented Security Properties with a counter offer: they would pledge not to pursue litigation or challenge the project as long as the developer agreed to build it in accordance with the design that had been drawn up based on the activists' recommendations.

While Security Properties has not officially responded, Marasco has not hidden the fact that his company is less than thrilled about the activists' plan, which, among other things, calls for reducing the number of housing units by one-third to one-half.

Still, that's not to say Security Properties has given up hope.

"The dream was, and still is, to come up with a joint plan that everybody could support," said Muir.

The question is: will Simon give Security Properties a chance to continue to work things out with the creek activists?

Marasco, and the rest of us, will soon find out. b