King County's sale of Pioneer Square building to benefit youth sports facilities countywide

Johnson Building sale means funds for youth sports fields, new homes in city

Converting a vacant, turn-of-the-century Pioneer Square building into new homes will not only boost commerce in downtown Seattle, but it will also mean more youth throughout King County will have places to play.

King County Executive Ron Sims and Metropolitan King County Council Chair Larry Phillips today hailed the successful sale of the county-owned Johnson Building, with the proceeds of the $2.2 milliontransaction going to the permanent endowment for the county's Youth Sports Facilities Grant fund (YSFG).

"Helping to revitalize a neighborhood and providing sports facilities for our children is a great was to strengthen the fabric of our community," said Sims. "This sale will create an endowment which we can use to keep investing in the future of our children."

"The sale of the Johnson Building will create a permanent endowment, adding more than $100,000 annually to funds available for building and renovating ball fields, playgrounds, and sports facilities for children in neighborhoods throughout King County," said Phillips.

The Johnson Plumbing and Hardware Building is located at 590 First Ave., between Railroad Way South and Occidental Avenue South. King County acquired the building for $950,000 in 1980 as part of the Kingdome development and was used primarily as a warehouse and storage facility.

The building was sold to a partnership of Historic Seattle and Nitze-Stagen and will provide an additional 68 ownership units, 12 of which will be affordable. New retail space will also be developed.

Phillips sponsored a proviso in the 1998 budget which put aside any proceeds from the future sale of the Johnson Building to become part of a permanent endowment within the Youth Sports Facility Grant Fund. On October 16, the council will consider Proposed Motion 2006-0331, which will reconfirm the decision to use Johnson Building sale proceeds on the endowment.

"The Kingdome benefited families throughout King County, regardless of their income level," said Phillips. "So when voters approved construction of a new football stadium in 1997, I thought it was important that proceeds from the sale of the Johnson Building—which was part of the Kingdome property holdings—be used to benefit families throughout King County. The Youth Sports Facility Grant program does just that by helping enhance places for kids to play and breathe new life into well-loved facilities."

The YSFG program is funded and sustained through a quarter of one percent of car rental taxes. Organizations must match the grant money. By ordinance, the program is funded from a dedicated revenue source (car rental taxes) that cannot be used for parks maintenance and operations.

"Kids benefit from youth sports facilities throughout King County - from a skate park in Carnation, to a new Boys and Girls Club gymnasium in Federal Way," said King County Parks Director Kevin Brown.

The program has awarded more than $8 million in grants and contributed to nearly 220 new or renovated athletic facilities since 1993. More information on the YSFG program is available at www.metrokc.gov/Parks/YSFG.