Book Description

University of Washington Abstract Feasibility Analysis Case Study: Seattle Central Community College's Development in the Surplus Space of Sound Transit's Capitol Hill Light Rail Station Janice Ruth Jarman Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Associate Professor George Rolfe Department of Urban Design and Planning This is a case study about Seattle Central Community College's (SCCC) aspirations to expand its campus with the development of the surplus space above Sound Transit's Capitol Hill Station on sites A, B, and C. Scott Kirkpatrick, Transit Oriented Development Manager for Sound Transit, asked me to assist Dr. A. Barretto Ogilvie, with an evaluation of the viability of the development. The Regional Community Health Education Center project consisted of 38% housing, 49% educational facilities for healthcare professionals, and 13% retail. In March 2009, a preliminary financial feasibility analysis on the housing aspect of the Regional Community Health Education Center project showing positive financial feasibility was prepared and presented to Dr. Ogilvie. His response was to shelve the feasibility analysis and stop the project based on the assumption that the project would be constrained by citizen involvement and objections to SCCC's utilization of so much valuable Broadway street frontage. At that point, the feasibility task evolved into a case study to identify and examine some of the constraints SCCC would face if the project moved forward. The constraints identified include: 1) uncertainty about the impact of community involvement; 2) loss of community college capital project funding due to the 2008-2009 recession causing state budget cuts to higher education; 3) time required by SCCC to seek alternative funding sources, accomplish the Major Institution Master Plan process, achieve building zoning changes for consistent heights on the site, and 4) Sound Transit's requirement for timely performance. A review and update on the status of these constraints, both as barriers and opportunities affecting SCCC's project as of December 2011, with an examination of effects on the process, concludes the case study. Thus, the study is a map of a process that moved a valued development site from potential conflict among stakeholders through negotiation, discovery, and mitigation to potential satisfaction, useful for those planning similar development projects.