Seattle may buy back land it sold to Paul Allen

The Seattle Times reports:

The city of Seattle wants to buy back some South Lake Union property it sold six years ago to Paul Allen.

And now taxpayers will likely pay a higher price for the land than Allen's development company did.

But despite the conspiracy theories and charges of bumbling government likely to surface — especially since billionaire Allen is involved — aides to Mayor Greg Nickels say the city couldn't have known in 2001 that it would later want to buy some of the property it sold.

"There's no way anyone negotiating that contract could have anticipated this," said Michael Mann, the mayor's top transportation adviser.

Heh.