Merlone Geier doesn't hide their frustration with Lake Forest Park

One of a handful of design concepts for
Town Center, Zone A might be the
parking garage and the rest of the buildings
would have apartments on the next level.

Merlone Geier Partners posted a statement to their blog, responding to the recent actions of the LFP City Council to take a brief break (moratorium) to create a vision statement for Town Center.

Sound Transit will be building a parking garage in Town Center. They have a preferred site which was identified in the ST3 package development. 

Merlone Geier owns the property and is in communication with Sound Transit.

Lake Forest Park can control the permitting, land use and other requirements. Determining these standards is what they are taking time to develop. The community appears to approve this.

Merlone Geier is not so pleased. In their statement, they said:

"After the open house (Merlone Geier open house), we asked for another meeting with City officials to find a way to better work together to address changes that they would like to see in the form of redevelopment and changes that will result from Sound Transit. 

"Their response was not what we expected: a surprise moratorium on development at the Town Center. 

"When asked how we should plan to participate in the upcoming process – which has yet to be articulated – the Council unenthusiastically suggested to simply communicate with the City through public comment, while the City Council and Planning Commission decide what they think is best for our property. We think this flies in the face of collaboration and partnership."

They talk about their willingness to work with the council, and feel more positive about the most recent city council meeting, but warn that:

"The City cannot simply dictate a list of demands on our property and expect us to fit a successful redevelopment project into an overly prescriptive box. There must be a balance between the realities we face as a property owner and the worthwhile concerns and objectives of the community."

Read the entire MGP statement here and LFP's vision statement here.

The open house documents show a half a dozen design concepts for Town Center which include apartments, retail, and parking.