Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 3, March 2003
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What to do about Northgate?
Aging mall needs fixing; City, citizens at odds over how
By CLAYTON PARK, SUSAN PARK and MATTHEW PREUSCH
When Northgate Mall America's first true shopping mall opened on May 1, 1950, Haller Lake resident Velva Maye was there to witness it.
Maye, who lives just a couple of blocks north of the mall, recalls it as a wonderful place, with just about everything a shopper could want.
In addition to a department store the Bon Marche the mall boasted a large assortment of shops, including two dime stores, a laundromat, a bank, a pharmacy and a supermarket.
The mall would later add a movie theater, more department stores, and a hospital/office building. "It used to be a shopping center that met your needs," Maye says.
But the nearly 53 years since that opening day have not been kind to Northgate.
Today, the mall's northwest wing where the hospital/office building and theater were located is dilapidated and, for the most part, vacant.
Northgate has also been left in the dust in recent years by its rivals Alderwood Mall to the north, Bellevue Square to the east and nearby University Village shopping center to the south all of which have either recently completed major expansions or are in the process of doing so.
Maye complains that the mall no longer serves the community as it once did. Gone is the grocery store, movie theater and hospital as well as all the mom-and-pop shops. In their place are chain stores, with a preponderance of jewelry and shoe outlets, 11 and 13, respectively, counting department stores.
While everyone including the mall's owners, Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group agrees Northgate needs fixing, there is strong disagreement as to how it should be done.
Simon, which tried to get City approval to expand the 1-million-square-foot Northgate Mall in 1998, wound up dropping its plan after two local citizens groups filed lawsuits to try to force the developer to include daylighting of Thornton Creek at the mall's south parking lot. That legal dispute has yet to be resolved.
The mall owners no longer want to develop its South Lot, but still want to expand by redeveloping Northgate's northwest wing.
In order to do so, Simon wants the City to remove its requirement for a General Development Plan. The GDP, which is subject to review by the public, is an extra set of conditions that must be followed by any developer of property larger than six acres within the Northgate commercial district.
It's part of the City's Northgate Area Comprehensive Plan for development, which was crafted by local citizens and signed into law in 1993.
Simon says the Comp Plan, which promotes pedestrian-oriented "urban village"-style development, is too restrictive and could prevent the mall from attracting the retail tenants it wants, such as a major bookstore and more restaurants.
Mayor Greg Nickels, in recent months, has publicly come out in favor of granting Simon its wish. He cites, as his chief reason, Seattle's soaring unemployment and the need to create new jobs.
Nickels' right-hand man, Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis, recently told a gathering of the Northgate Chamber of Commerce that the Comp Plan was a "failure" in that it has stymied growth altogether, rather than encourage neighborhood-friendly development.
Nickels has been negotiating with Simon on a compromise plan to "break the logjam" that has prevented the mall from expanding.
That plan is thought to include a landswap, in which Simon would agree to give the City a portion of the South Lot for the creation of a storm water retention pond. In exchange, Simon would be given a greenlight to redevelop its main mall property without having to adhere to a GDP.
Local citizens are divided on the issue.
Most in the business community, including other developers, favor lifting the GDP requirement.
Many area residents, however, including Maye, who participated in creating the Comp Plan, believe the GDP is necessary to ensure that new development is in keeping with the vision of transforming the sprawling, traffic-congested Northgate district into a more pedestrian-friendly urban village.
The public will have an opportunity to voice their opinions on Wednesday, March 19 when the mayor plans to a Northgate Community Open House. At the meeting, Nickels is expected to announce the details of his proposed deal with Simon. The open house will be held at Nathan Hale High School, in the lunchroom, from 6-8 p.m.
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For more information, call Chris Gregorich, community development specialist with the City's Office of Policy and Management, at 684-8384.