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Monday, September 29, 2008

Visual Art What Is Happening in That Tower?

Posted by on Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 11:10 AM

Two weeks ago, when Washington Mutual was slipping, I called Seattle Art Museum and asked to talk to the director, Mimi Gates, about the museum's longstanding and much-publicized relationship with the bank. After all, they share a building.

Gates didn't even think it important enough to get on the phone. A museum spokesperson said simply that everything was fine, that there were safeguards built into the relationship for just such a scenario, and that if WaMu was bailed out, the new tenant would simply assume the role that WaMu played in paying rent to the museum.

Fast-forward to last Thursday, when WaMu was seized and its S&L side sold to JPMorgan Chase.

What's going to happen next we don't really know yet. Will JPMorgan Chase operate WaMu's business from the WaMu Center tower or will the place be subject to a tenant who can negotiate to pay far less in a weak real-estate market? So far, nobody's talking, but something will have to shake out soon.

 

Comments (12) RSS

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1
"Gates didn’t even think it important enough to get on the phone." ...maybe not with you, but you're kind of an ineloquent hack...
Posted by hm on September 29, 2008 at 11:20 AM
2
The image in the post about the condo conversions below says the museum complex will be demolished!
Posted by Sean on September 29, 2008 at 11:24 AM
3
Sean, take a look at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/visualart/379714_samwamu19.html . I worked in WaMu Center for a while and can verify what that article states: SAM owns its building and leases part of it to WaMu. JPMorgan can do what it wants with most of WaMu Center, but it doesn't have the legal right to touch SAM. And my hunch tells me that with all the money problems it just inherited, it isn't going to want to throw tons of money into buying up SAM's building.

I do, of course, realize that this directly contradicts the proposed land use notice. I really have no idea how that is even possible.

Posted by Nandor on September 29, 2008 at 11:52 AM
4
I am tired of this. Honestly, you all have no clue what you are talking about. You are just pulling anything out of your ass that you can find. You were speculating and even saying that "[there is] a certain cleaning-out of its own is taking place..." at WaMu Center, which it is not, not yet anyway. YOU do not know. WaMu employees do not know. Alan Fishman and Jamie Dimon do not know. Everything is up in the air right now and you feel it is your duty to speculate and write about things as though you ACTUALLY know what is going on.

People are still working in WaMu Center. Yes, Kerry Killinger's picture may have been taken down in WASHINGTON MUTUAL TOWER, which WaMu rents office space in. He is no longer CEO, why would his picture not be taken down? Do you know that there are more than two buildings downtown with WaMu offices? Get over this shit.

Honestly, report on shit when you know about shit. This is just ridiculous.

Of course your low level friend Phil knows nothing. Why would a low level employee know anything in the first place? Judging on the quotes he does not even realize that he now works for JP MORGAN Chase.

Geez guys, stick to the shit that you actually know about, and wait until you get the story right before you write about anything else.

PS Sorry for sounding like an asshole but this needs to stop.

Posted by Enough on September 29, 2008 at 12:03 PM
5
I am tired of this. Honestly, you all have no clue what you are talking about. You are just pulling anything out of your ass that you can find. You were speculating and even saying that "[there is] a certain cleaning-out of its own is taking place..." at WaMu Center, which it is not, not yet anyway. YOU do not know. WaMu employees do not know. Alan Fishman and Jamie Dimon do not know. Everything is up in the air right now and you feel it is your duty to speculate and write about things as though you ACTUALLY know what is going on.

People are still working in WaMu Center. Yes, Kerry Killinger's picture may have been taken down in WASHINGTON MUTUAL TOWER, which WaMu rents office space in. He is no longer CEO, why would his picture not be taken down? Do you know that there are more than two buildings downtown with WaMu offices? Get over this shit.

Honestly, report on shit when you know about shit. This is just ridiculous.

Of course your low level friend Phil knows nothing. Why would a low level employee know anything in the first place? Judging on the quotes he does not even realize that he now works for JP MORGAN Chase.

Geez guys, stick to the shit that you actually know about, and wait until you get the story right before you write about anything else.

PS Sorry for sounding like an asshole but this needs to stop.

Posted by Enough on September 29, 2008 at 12:03 PM
6
I am tired of this. Honestly, you all have no clue what you are talking about. You are just pulling anything out of your ass that you can find. You were speculating and even saying that "[there is] a certain cleaning-out of its own is taking place..." at WaMu Center, which it is not, not yet anyway. YOU do not know. WaMu employees do not know. Alan Fishman and Jamie Dimon do not know. Everything is up in the air right now and you feel it is your duty to speculate and write about things as though you ACTUALLY know what is going on.

People are still working in WaMu Center. Yes, Kerry Killinger's picture may have been taken down in WASHINGTON MUTUAL TOWER, which WaMu rents office space in. He is no longer CEO, why would his picture not be taken down? Do you know that there are more than two buildings downtown with WaMu offices? Get over this shit.

Honestly, report on shit when you know about shit. This is just ridiculous.

Of course your low level friend Phil knows nothing. Why would a low level employee know anything in the first place? Judging on the quotes he does not even realize that he now works for JP MORGAN Chase.

Geez guys, stick to the shit that you actually know about, and wait until you get the story right before you write about anything else.

PS Sorry for sounding like an asshole but this needs to stop.

Posted by Enough on September 29, 2008 at 12:03 PM
7
...and no I am not spamming. If you can remove two of those posts that I put up, please do. I really do not know why it was posted up 3 times. Sorry about that.
Posted by Enough on September 29, 2008 at 12:06 PM
8
If I had to guess, it's the people who work in the branches who should be worried. WaMu is fundamentally sound, but they're going to sell off a LOT of branches, and put a ton of floor space downtown up for lease too (or have the museum do it, depending on what the contracts look like).
Posted by Fnarf on September 29, 2008 at 12:19 PM
9
mimi is too busy to talk to you and if she wasn't you're not worth talking to
Posted by Bellevue Ave on September 29, 2008 at 12:42 PM
10
@2: Just to be clear, the "conversion notice" was a hoax.
Posted by Jen Graves on September 29, 2008 at 12:59 PM
11
She should talk to her Stepson Bill, I hear his company is in serious need of office space in Downtown Seattle.
Posted by pragmatic on September 29, 2008 at 1:31 PM
12
Seriously, stupid, pointless article. Mimi Gates won't talk to you, so fucking what. Get back to looking at some "art"
Posted by seriously on September 29, 2008 at 5:59 PM

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