from Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times,

The saga of a proposed arena project for Sodo District took a dramatic twist Tuesday with entrepreneur Chris Hansen now saying he’s prepared to do an all-private proposal.

Hansen’s project had been in limbo since May, when the Seattle City Council turned down his request to vacate a part of Occidental Avenue S., so the land could be used for the facility. A funding deal between Hansen, the city and King County called for up to $200 million in municipal-bond funding for the project if an NBA franchise was first obtained.

But now, with the all-private proposal, that money no longer would be in play. In return, Hansen, who also says he’ll kick in money for an overpass that would potentially ease Sodo traffic congestion, says he wants the city to give up the portion of Occidental needed for arena construction to begin....

As well, the NHL has expressed interest privately about putting a team here as well several times over the past few years.

By going all-private, Hansen would eliminate the need to acquire an NBA team within a specific time period. His Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the city and county had required the team to be in hand by November 2017.

But by using private money to build, that clock stops ticking and frees Hansen’s group to apply for an NBA team when the league is ready to set its expansion plans in motion. Hansen also could acquire an NHL team in the interim and wait until the NBA is ready to follow.

more