Dive Brief:
- Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced the decision to sever ties with Triad Capital Partners, the developer of a $400 million project across from City Hall, after a candidate for City Council alleged that a Triad executive tried to blackmail him into helping Triad settle a lawsuit, MyNorthwest.com reported.
- Seattle City Council candidate Jon Grant alleged that Brett Allen, senior vice president of Triad, approached him for help with settling a lawsuit filed against Triad by Grant's former employer in exchange for ensuring a $200,000 campaign being launched against Grant’s candidacy never made it off the ground.
- The mayor said the city will not renew its contract for the redevelopment of the city-owned block with Triad, which has held the contract for eight years, and he is currently looking into ways to terminate the contract earlier than the Dec. 31 expiration date.
Dive Insight:
New terms of the contract for the development would require affordable housing, according to the Seattle mayor. He also said other developers have expressed interest in the property, and he believes the city "can find a better deal."
"We’re in the midst of the largest development boom maybe since the Gold Rush, and the fact that this piece of property remains empty in the heart of the city is a little surprising," Murray said.
Triad has issued a statement denying the company was involved in any blackmail scheme and said that Allen has been fired.
Grant said he rejected Allen’s overtures, but he alleged Allen then contacted former Seattle mayor Mike McGinn, a supporter of Grant’s, and asked McGinn to make his case to Grant, not giving up the plan for Grant to help settle the Triad lawsuit.
Grant told KIRO Radio, "I think it's one thing to sit down and talk about an issue. It's another to essentially blackmail me with a $200,000 threat and undercut interests of low-income tenants of the city. I made it clear that I would be unwilling to do that."
