Incorporating historical facade preservation into the Fifth and Forbes project would be no problem, with one exception -- Nordstrom's wants the historical property, a spokesman from Urban Retail Properties said at a meeting Monday.
Urban Retail Properties, the proposed firm to oversee the project, said that facade preservation would cost about an extra $29 million, just 5 or 6 percent of the nearly half-billion-dollar cost of the project.
However, the firm also revealed that Nordstrom's department store not only is interested in being part of the project; the store is interested in the area to be preserved.
Whether or not Nordstrom's would be included in the project has been up in the air. Mayor Tom Murphy could not announce Nordstrom's intentions because a deal hasn't officially been reached.
"Nordstrom was given the plan of the entire development, and not only did they choose the block, they chose the location on the block," Bob Lemke of Urban Retail Properties said.
"They may be from Seattle, but they're not naive. They understand city planning."
The part of the project to receive most of the historical preservation would be the area between Fifth and Forbes avenues and Wood Street.
Lemke said that he couldn't say whether Nordstrom would accept facade preservation.
Murphy added that, though Urban Retail Properties has no qualms about the cost of facade preservation, the extra $28 million would likely be borne by the taxpayers.
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