A $500 Million Home for Gates's Charity

Melinda Gates and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels at the groundbreaking of the Gates Foundation's new $500 million headquarters in downtown Seattle. (By Ted S. Warren -- Associated Press) Associated Press Wednesday, July 23, 2008; Page D02 SEATTLE -- Across the street from the Space Needle and Paul Allen's tribute to Jimi Hendrix and rock music, Allen's old friend Bill Gates is building his headquarters for charitable giving. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation broke ground yesterday on its new $500 million headquarters, which the world's largest charity hopes to occupy in late 2010. The campus is a crosswalk away from the Seattle Center and the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, Allen's collection of rock memorabilia and space-age literature and artifacts. Both are monuments to the wealth... [read full story]