The King County Council will hold a public hearing in May before potentially authorizing the $17.95 million sale of Bellevue City Hall-adjacent property to the city for undetermined future development.

About one-third of the 1.53-acre site will be granted to Sound Transit for a downtown light rail station as part of its East Link extension, and the remaining space will be used for construction staging purposes until the project is completed. The city has been seeking to purchase the 66,429-square-foot property on Northeast Sixth Street for more than six years, but both government jurisdictions were unable to reach an agreed price during that time. The city has stated the property’s future purpose is still being decided.

King County Metro originally purchased the site to provide a bus layover area using Federal Transit Administration funding, but that development did not occur. The FTA did have to approve of the sale to the city of Bellevue and provided a concurrence letter in October citing the $17.95 million price tag as the established appraised value based on the highest and best use of the property for hotel purposes and light rail station construction at 11101 N.E. Sixth St. However, based on a payment schedule provided by King County, the city of Bellevue will likely pay another $6.7 million through Dec. 31, 2026 when the sale is set to close.

The King County Council will hold a public hearing regarding the sale 1:30 p.m. Monday, May 12 at the King County Courthouse, Room 1001. The property is zoned as a Downtown Mixed Use District. Revenue from the sale of the property will go to King County’s transportation fund.