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Overview

The architect Frederick Forde Bassetti (1917-2013) and the Seattle Times newspaper columnist John Hinterberger devised the idea of building a 61-acre park in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle in 1991. They proposed that the Seattle Commons would be a linear park stretching from Denny Way to the southern shores of Lake Union. Microsoft billionaire loaned the effort $20 million to purchase land in South Lake Union, and, with this funding bought 11.5 acres by 1996. Two referenda were held in 1995 and 1996, both of which failed narrowly at the polls. (See Paula Becker, Historylink.org Essay #8252, "Seattle voters reject the Seattle Commons levy on September 19, 1995," written 08/08/2007, accessed 06/15/2016.) After the vote of 05/21/1996, Allen wirthdrew his funding and took ownership of the 11.5 acres purchased. His Vulcan Real Estate division gradually built dozens of low-rise office buildings on the acreage, eleven of which were sold to Amazon.com for $1 billion in 10/2012. (See Amy Martinez and Eric Pryne, Seattle Times, "Amazon gobbles up campus for $1 billion," accessed 06/15/2016.)

PCAD id: 13448