Snohomish County Business Journal


YOUR COUNTY.	YOUR BUSINESS JOURNAL.

Published August 2001

Campus Redevelopment Initiative to meet county, downtown needs

By Kimberly Hilden
Herald Business Journal Assistant Editor

For Snohomish County government, it is the “golden opportunity” to better serve residents and customers, save money down the line and accommodate the need for more office and jail space.

For Everett business owners, it is keeping 1,000 consumers downtown to buy lunch, go shopping, get a haircut — pumping money into the local economy.

“It” is the county’s Campus Redevelopment Initiative — a $140 million project that will add new jail facilities, expand courtroom capacity and include construction of a 230,000-square-foot office building on the county’s current campus in downtown Everett.

And “it” has Project Manager Dale Moses eyeing the possibilities.

“This is a chance of a generation to do this thing right and satisfy as many needs as we possibly can,” he said.

The redevelopment initiative got its start early in 2000, when the Boeing Co. offered the county its Bomarc property at Paine Field to consolidate county services — some of which are housed in some 185,000 square feet of leased space in downtown Everett, costing the county $2 million annually.

Such a move alarmed downtown business and civic leaders, who formed the Save Our County Seat campaign to oppose the move.

“It would have killed downtown,” said Joel Starr, co-owner of The Flying Pig restaurant, who took part in Save Our County Seat. “The commerce in a downtown is primarily white collar, and in this particular area, it’s the supporting services to the county: all the engineers ... county government, the judicial system and all of that.”

Hearing such concerns and gaining cooperation from the city of Everett on zoning issues and the like, the Snohomish County Council in June 2000 decided against moving the county’s government offices and decided for development of a campus master plan to meet county government’s space needs.

And the greatest need right now, Moses said, is jail beds for pre-adjudication inmates, who are housed on the campus currently.

“On any given night these days, about 150 prisoners are sleeping on the floor,” he said.

Working with Seattle-based architectural firm NBBJ, the county is planning on adding a 640-bed jail facility and modifying the existing facility to hold 400 beds, Moses said. By September, NBBJ will start the design work, with construction expected to begin late next summer and finish up by September 2004.

Along with the jail, the redevelopment initiative’s other components are parking, court and administrative space, at present being master-planned by NBBJ.

The county is gathering information — from employee surveys, focus groups and the Citizens Advisory Committee — on how best to reconfigure the campus. Issues being looked at include relocation of employees who currently work in leased space downtown, possible consolidation of court functions, preservation of the Mission Building and the Carnegie Library building, and placement of departments to best serve customers.

“Here’s the golden opportunity,” Moses said. “You’re rebuilding; you’re having lots of people move around. Let’s look at our existing work processes, ... at the existing way we’re doing business — and we know there are some improvements that can be made.”

“It’s a cliche to say ‘one-stop shopping,’ but really, it’s real,” said Fred Bird, part of the County Council staff.

Design of the new office building is expected to begin by September 2002, Moses said, with construction expected to start in early 2003 and finish by late 2004.

Local businesses working on the project include Shockey Brent Inc., which will be involved in the permitting process and environmental review; Perteet Engineering Inc., which will be involved with public outreach and traffic and parking studies; and Reid Middleton Inc., which is subcontracting under NBBJ, Moses said.

As for parking, the county is looking at partnering with the city’s proposed arena project to build a parking structure that would benefit both facilities, though a location is still under consideration, Moses said.

The county recently issued bonds to fund the project, at a favorable interest rate of 5.058 percent, Bird said.

Money to pay for the bonds is expected to come in part from the real estate excise tax, the general fund new-construction property tax, debt service reductions and other general fund contributions, and customer and employee parking fees associated with construction of a new parking facility.

But the biggest chunk (40.4 percent) of money to pay for the bonds will come from lease avoidance, as county employees gradually relocate from downtown leased space to the county campus, Moses said.

And property owners are preparing for that withdrawal.

“We see landlords positioning themselves to absorb the change — structuring leases to stagger out over differing periods of time so there’s not a dumping of vacant space on the market and doing advanced marketing efforts today, knowing that that event is out there in the future,” said Tom Hoban, CEO of Coast Real Estate Services of Everett.

Restaurateur Starr looks at the available space as an opportunity to “bring people in” as the many downtown projects — from Everett Station to the various residential developments — take hold and revitalize the area.

“Am I scared that they’re going to empty the Wall Street Building (home to numerous government offices) out from behind me? No, they’ll just fill it back up,” he said.

Public input sought
To offer input on how you think customer service could be improved through the Campus Redevelopment Initiative, call Project Manager Dale Moses at 425-388-3118 or send e-mail to cri@co.snohomish.wa.us.

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