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SDOT presents ordinance to allow leasehold deed of trust for King Street Station cultural space
Summary
SDOT presented Council Bill 120989, authorizing the director to execute a leasehold deed of trust for the Cultural Space Agency’s leasehold at King Street Station. SDOT said the deed of trust is a condition of a state grant to the Cultural Space Agency and that the deed poses no direct financial risk to the city.
The Transportation Committee considered Council Bill 120989 on June 3, 2025, an ordinance authorizing the director of transportation to execute and record a leasehold deed of trust reflecting Cultural Space Agency (CSA) leasehold estate rights at the Second Floor of King Street Station.
Bill (presenter) of the Seattle Department of Transportation outlined King Street Station’s recent history: the city acquired King Street Station from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad in 2006 for a token purchase and later renovated the building using levy and federal funds. SDOT said the First Floor remains the Amtrak train station; the Third Floor houses the Office of Arts & Culture and the Second Floor was developed as cultural space.
SDOT explained that the Cultural Space Agency — a city-chartered public development authority created to secure affordable space for arts organizations — invested roughly $4 million to build out the Second Floor between 2021 and 2023. CSA also received a state Department of Commerce grant of about $4 million; a condition of that grant requires the city to execute a leasehold deed of trust that would protect the state’s grant interest in the event of a default by CSA.
SDOT staff told the committee the deed of trust was carefully vetted with the Law Department and structured so that execution would not create an ongoing financial obligation or expose the city to a contingent liability beyond allowing the state the ability to enforce the grant condition. SDOT said the effect of the deed is to ensure that, if CSA defaulted and the state took over CSA’s leasehold interest, the space would remain committed to cultural uses under the existing lease terms.
Calvin Chao of council central staff said staff reviewed the ordinance and had no issues to raise. Committee members had no substantive questions in the hearing and did not take a final vote during the June 3 committee meeting; SDOT presented the legislation for committee review and asked the committee to consider the ordinance as transmitted.
SDOT identified the legal background: earlier ordinances authorizing lease and development agreements for King Street Station and the original 2006 acquisition and subsequent rehabilitation work (including a 2006 transportation levy contribution and later federal funds). The bill would ratify and confirm prior acts necessary to record the leasehold deed of trust.
No committee vote on the ordinance was recorded during the meeting; the item was presented and discussed for committee consideration and next steps in the council process.
