With the future of the Hines property in question, some Mercer Island citizens who oppose more five-story apartment buildings going up in Town Center are wondering if the site can be acquired in a private-public partnership and turned into a large plaza.

The lack of a central gathering area downtown has been one of the main criticisms throughout the Town Center visioning process, which city staff began in 2014 and attracted a lot of public attention in 2015.

Urban planning consultant Seth Harry suggested three areas prime for plazas: on S.E. 27th Street by Starbucks, on 78th Avenue S.E. leading to Sunset Highway and along S.E. 29th Street.

The idea of the “Starbucks plaza,” which would be created by removing the curved road and designed like Pioneer Square in Portland, generated significant interest when it was first proposed. Later, the Town Center stakeholders posited that the Walgreens site would also be a good option for a plaza or park. A few years ago, the city tried to work out a partnership with Walgreens that would include civic buildings and public parking, but it never materialized.

The Hines designs featured a large plaza along S.E. 29th Street, a feature praised by the Design Commission. Many say the block under contract with Hines would be a prime location, close to the planned Mercer Island Center for the Arts (MICA), Farmers Market and within reasonable walking distance of the Park and Ride and future light rail station.

On social media, many Islanders said they would support an initiative, bond or more taxes—personal and/or business—to acquire property in the central business core to create a public plaza, if the Hines project is not built. Hines appears to have discontinued its efforts to develop the three parcels south of McDonald’s, although property owner Dean Bitney said his parcel is still “very much under contract with Hines.”

“The money to acquire a property would have to come from somewhere to both acquire, develop and sustain the property, and that question would need to be answered later,” Tom Acker, who started the Save Our Suburbs community group and is now running for City Council, wrote in a NextDoor thread.

Doris Cassan, whose husband James owns Dollar Development Co. and developed The Mercer apartments, said she and her family “would pledge over time an amount in the seven figure.”

“I would be honored to serve on a group that would seek others who would also be willing to donate for such an outstanding idea for our children and grandchildren,” she wrote in reply to the NextDoor post.

She also mentioned that the MICA could be built there, instead of near Mercerdale Park.

“While it would be great to be in the middle of the Town Center, and it would indeed be an excellent site, except for the expense,” said MICA Executive Director Louise Kincaid. “To acquire the property from the current owners (who rightfully expect full commercial rates) would significantly increase, and possibly at least double, the cost of the current $25 million MICA project budget.”

Cassan said that as a ‘property rights’ advocate, she would want the sale to be based on the same value as the Hines deal.

Islanders have suggested other ideas for community gathering places, notably a year-round Farmers Market or a development similar to Seattle’s Melrose Market or Wenatchee’s Pybus Market.

Others would ask new developments to contribute to parks or public gathering areas.

The stakeholders have discussed a ‘fee in lieu’ that would require developers to put money in a pot for public projects, like plazas, rather than incorporating them in designs for their own buildings in exchange for height bonuses, as outlined in the current code.

This summer, the City Council will also consider imposing park impact fees on new developments.

Update: At the July 7 City Council meeting, Acker asked who in the city he could talk to about the idea to acquire the “Hines property.” City Manager Noel Treat said that negotiations on a public-private partnership would start with him, and that he would see if any private partners are interested.