The City of Federal Way will hold two more open houses on June 8 and 15 on a new redevelopment proposal intended for the former AMC Theaters site in downtown Federal Way.

Both open houses will be about an hour in length and will be held in the Patrick Maher Room, first floor of City Hall, 33325 8th Ave. S. The open house on June 8 will be held immediately following the City Council’s Parks, Recreation, Human Services and Public Safety Committee Meeting, approximately at 6:30 p.m.

The open house on June 15 will be held at 5:30 p.m. prior to the regular City Council meeting.

As at the June 1 open house, representatives from the proposed development team, Twin Development, LLC., and the City will be on hand to explain the redevelopment concept and answer questions. Draft architectural renderings will be available for review.

Comments will be accepted at the open houses or by email, phone or snail mail. Please contact Patrick Doherty, Economic Development Director, 253.835.2612, Patrick.doherty@cityoffederalway.com or PO Box 9718, Federal Way, WA 98003-9718.

Background on the project

The City has been working with United Properties of Vancouver, B.C. since July 2007 to have the multi-use, high-rise development known as “Symphony” built on the former AMC Theater site. The economy stalled the project, and the City extended the purchase and sale agreement five times. Twin Development is interested in taking over the purchase and development contract for the property and building a similar development. The Council’s fifth and final extension of the purchase and sale agreement establishes a closing date of Sept. 30, 2010.

Basic elements of the project

Twin Development unveiled its draft concept for the $300+million project to the City Council in a public meeting on May 18. Some of the development components have changed since that meeting and will probably continue to change slightly as the developer conducts more market research. The purchase price, however, remains the same.

To-date, basic elements of the project could include:

• Residential towers (two @ 45 stories each)
• Approximately 700 residential units, most likely as condos to start
• Units would range in size from 800 to 1,600 square feet
• Towers would be connected by a high sky bridge open to residents only
• Hotel/lounge tower (one @ 35 stories)
• A boutique hotel with 60 rooms to start
• A top-floor Sky Lounge (bar) open to the public

Retail base
Approximately 50,000 square feet of retail (possibly also small eateries/coffee shops and office space) would be spread along the base level of all three towers.

Public park (1.2 acres)

• A public open space consisting of both lawns and landscaped areas, as well as hard-surface areas, with the following possible feature
• Public gathering spaces
• Small amphitheater
• Water feature
• The proposed new development (a name hasn’t been decided on) also would have approximately
• 1,000 underground parking spaces.

Proposed timeline for the project

The City Council took public comment on this project on May 18 and June 1. Two more open houses are set for June 8 and 15. In addition, public comment will again be taken at the 7 p.m. regular City Council meeting on June 15.

The Council may take action on June 15. If the Council approves in principle the assignment of the contract to Twin Development, it will direct staff to negotiate modifications to the original purchase and sale agreement with United Properties. Contract negotiations are expected to take two months and would include work on development covenants and design guidelines, among other items.

City staff would then bring a completed contract back to the City Council at a public meeting on Sept. 7, 2010, for review and acceptance.

The developer and the City would have until Sept. 30, 2010, to execute the contract and close on the property. The project could break ground in 2011.