Investors offer to privately fund Seattle arena

The quest to bring the NBA back to Seattle took a significant step Tuesday with investor Chris Hansen and his investment group offering to pay for a proposed arena with private funds.

In a letter to Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, the City Council and King County Executive Dow Constantine, Hansen’s group is now offering to rip up a memorandum of understanding from 2012 that called for up to $200 million in public investment in the arena.

Additionally, the group is offering to contribute to a transportation project near the proposed arena that would help deal with freight traffic at the Port of Seattle, a sticking point in past efforts, in exchange for a waiver of the city’s admissions tax and an adjustment of the city’s business and occupation tax.

For that reason, and to address concerns expressed by city council members, we would consider revising the street vacation petition to eliminate public financing of the arena.

The decision comes 5½ months after the city of Seattle turned down Hansen’s request to block off a street needed for construction of the arena, which could have led to the issuance of a master-use permit, meaning construction of the arena could have started once an NBA team had been acquired.