SEATTLE — Mayor Ed Murray sent a letter to University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce on Friday, voicing concern that UW is minimizing its contribution toward affordable housing by taking advantage of the site's unusual platting.
In the letter, Murray asks Cauce to work on a solution. Read the letter here.
He writes: "As far as I am concerned, UW should contribute the same amount it would have paid had it not been able to count sections of Fifth Avenue and University Street as lot area associated with the Rainier Square site."
Last week, the city's department of planning and development approved a master use permit application, allowing redevelopment of a part of the Rainier Square site. UW owns the block bordered by Union Street to the north, Fifth Avenue to the east, University Street to the south and Fourth Avenue to the west.
Part of that block is planned to become a 12-story, 160-room hotel and a 59-story, 214-unit apartment complex with office and retail space.
The city's planning and development department previously allowed UW to count the sections of Fifth Avenue and University Street as part of the lot, thereby increasing the base amount of floor area that UW could build before having to pay into public benefits like affordable housing and child care.
Murray wrote that by counting thee additional space on the lot, UW might be able to pay less millions of dollars less toward affordable housing and other benefits.