Century Agenda 
In 2008, the Port of Seattle began creating a "Century Agenda"  a
comprehensive vision and strategic plan that focuses on the Port's
next quarter-century. The Commission identified Real Estate as one
of four key areas where policy needed to be established.
The Commission completed first stage of the Century Agenda's work
on August 4, 2009, by adopting the "Century Agenda: Expert Panels'
Recommended Guiding Principles." 
The Real Estate division developed tiered asset management system,
and those efforts led directly to examining this subject through the
2011 roundtables.
On January 4, 2011, the Commission approved the formation of the
Century Agenda Committee, made up of Commissioner Albro and
Commissioner Creighton, to oversee the next steps in the
Commission's strategic planning process. 
The Committee convenes nine roundtables on strategic questions.

"Guiding Principles" - Real Estate 
1.   Port-owned real estate assets serve a dynamic range of strategic
interests that include job creation, resource stewardship and regional
economic development. The Port should develop a tiered asset
management system to provide an operational framework to address
this range of interests. 
2.  Real estate activities should take into account the effect of Port
operations on the affected land and discourage activities that would
threaten the ability of the Port to perform its core mission. Facilities
central to the Port's core mission should be identified as "essential
public facilities." 
3.  To sustain the economic value of its holdings, the Port should invest
in existing or new infrastructure to support its core mission and the
operational requirements of its tenants.

October 11, 2011, Real Estate Roundtable 
Century Agenda Committee roundtable: "Putting Real Estate to Work" 
Representatives from the real estate development, maritime, industrial, and
public sectors attend. Panelists asked to consider these questions: 
How best can the Port deploy its Real Estate assets to support its other strategic
goals? 
How does the Port decide when it is best to buy or sell our real estate assets? 
How can the Port change the mix and level of its assets to increase business and
workforce opportunities? 
How should the Port decide when regional benefits justify Port subsidy? 
What role should the Port play in public and private real estate development, and
what criteria are needed to guide these activities? 
How does the Port compete with other governments that are willing to discount
land values in order to attract jobs?

Questions for Commission 
Since the October roundtable, both the Commission and Port staff have
engaged in iterative discussions to develop strategic goals to further the
real estate principles. Decision taken to seek Commission input: 
Questions: 
Should the Century Agenda include Real Estate goals at all, or are policy
decisions in this area a means to achieve other goals? 
Given the dynamic nature of the Real Estate market, is it possible to
state goals that are as concrete as those involving the Seaport and the
Airport? 
How does the Port decide between multiple goals that may conflict with
one another? For instance, should we proceed to develop a property
that may have economic development benefits, but not pencil out on
the Port's bottom line or vice versa?