Five hundred new park-and-ride spaces at the Northgate Transit Center could be ready for use by next summer, now that the King County Department of Transportation has signed a purchase and sale agreement with the Simon Property Group, the owners of Northgate Mall. The sale price is $7.64 million or $45 per square foot, subject to appraisal.

The 3.9-acre site is just south of Northgate Mall and immediately to the east of King County Metro's Northgate Transit Center, between Northeast 100th and Northeast 103rd.

"These new spaces will help our bus riders find parking and reduce improper parking in neighboring office parks," says King County Executive Ron Sims. "I've been out there at 7 a.m. to talk to riders and found all the parking spaces already taken. And this is a cost-effective project. Since the site is already a parking lot, creating these 500 spaces will only cost about half as much as it would to build a new parking structure."

Executive Sims launched an initiative in 1997 to create more park-and-ride spaces to ease the daily search by riders for parking. Purchase of the Northgate lot is made possible with funds provided by voters in last fall's "Yes On Metro" Proposition One.

Once the sale is closed, the county could take possession of the lot in March 2002 and start work on minor renovations, which will include painting new stripes and installing lights. Commuters could be able to start using the new park-and-ride lot as soon as the summer of 2002. The Seattle Department of Design, Construction and Land Use has already approved a permit for what's known as a "park-and-pool" lot, one in which buses do not physically enter.

King County announced its intention to pursue purchase of the lot at a public meeting at Nathan Hale High School in March. When a private developer's option to purchase the lot lapsed in September, the owners of Northgate Mall offered to sell a portion of the lot to King County. Acquisition of the lot preserves future options for transit-oriented development and public open space in the Northgate Urban Center. The project is consistent with the Northgate Area Comprehensive Plan adopted by the city in 1993.

King County DOT will survey neighbors to determine their desire for dedicated carpool and vanpool stalls, bike lockers and other options. Over the next several years, the county will prepare a master plan for redevelopment of the publicly owned western half of the super-block bordered by First and Fifth Avenues Northeast and by Northeast 100th and 103rd Streets; such a plan may include a new light-rail station, new traffic lights and street improvements for buses and pedestrians, as well as a mixed-use development with cinema, retail, hotel, office, housing and open space. The county will also develop a transportation demand management plan offering incentives for employees and residents not to drive, such as employee bus passes, Flexcar, Free Ride Home and other programs.

The county will continue to work with the City of Seattle and others on the potential relocation of the park-and-ride lot at Fifth Avenue Northeast and Northeast 112th, north of the Target store, to permit redevelopment of that space as a park.