Chase wants to build a 16,000-square-foot Sapphire Lounge at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, on the A concourse and directly alongside Delta's lounge complex. It is not approved. The Port of Seattle commission was asked to authorize the lease on September 22 and did not, and Doctor of Credit reported on September 25 that the next vote is set for October 27.
What Chase is proposing
The numbers are unusually public for a lounge deal, because they run through a port commission rather than a private negotiation.
View from the Wing, which reported the plan first on September 20, says Chase would invest $70 million across the initial build-out and a midterm refurbishment, on a 15-year lease. Rent starts at $500 per square foot with 10% increases in years six and eleven. View from the Wing puts that at roughly $7.9 million a year for the airport. Doctor of Credit gives the total across the full term as $135.6 million.
The site itself came out of a lounge shuffle. View from the Wing reports that a planned expansion of The Club at SEA was canceled, freeing the adjacent space Chase would take alongside The Club's current footprint.
Why it didn't pass on September 22
The delay had less to do with the economics than with the commissioners.
Doctor of Credit's account of the meeting is that commissioners asked what "Chase Sapphire" actually is, and asked how the details had reached the public, which Doctor of Credit notes is because the meeting minutes are public. One commissioner suggested Chase might owe them an apology.
That is a procedural complaint rather than a rejection of the deal, which is worth keeping in proportion. But it does mean the lease is unsigned, and a project that had been reported as coming to Seattle is more accurately described as proposed.
The queue Chase is standing in
Even with approval on October 27, this lounge isn't opening soon, because two other tenants have to move first.
United has to vacate its current club for a new one in Concourse B. The Club at SEA then moves into the space United leaves. Only then does Chase get The Club's current space, plus the adjacent area from the canceled expansion.
Upgraded Points reports that no opening date has been announced.
What it would mean for cardholders
Sapphire Lounge access runs with Chase's premium cards. Upgraded Points lists the Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Reserve for Business, the J.P. Morgan Reserve and the Ritz-Carlton card as carrying complimentary access with up to two guests, with additional guests at $27 each and day passes at $100. It also notes Seattle would be the network's 12th lounge.
Upgraded Points describes the Sapphire Lounge format as running to dining, full bars with custom cocktails, coffee, desserts and wellness areas. Whether the Seattle build matches that is unknown, because nothing about its interior has been published.
That makes a Seattle location matter most to holders of those cards who fly through SEA.
The practical read for now is to plan nothing around it. A 15-year lease that has not been signed, followed by a tenant shuffle, is not a benefit you can count on for a trip next year.
What to watch
October 27 is the date. If the commission authorizes the lease then, the interesting question becomes how quickly United's Concourse B club opens, because that move starts the clock on everything behind it.
If you hold a Sapphire Reserve and fly through Seattle, the honest advice is the same either way: use the lounges that exist now, and treat this one as a plan rather than a promise.
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