There’s the matter of building the roads that will serve the new buildings. That’s what a contractor for the Port of Olympia is doing now — laying the groundwork for new roads, curbs, sidewalks, bike lanes, lighting and utilities for more than 13 acres. The road project, which will cost about $4 million, should be finished in December, said Kevin Dragon, project manager for the port. Stan Palmer Construction of Port Orchard is doing the work for the port.
It means new streets for downtown Olympia. Take Jefferson Street, for example. It now ends at State Avenue, but the port’s project will extend it several blocks to the north, serving the new Children’s Museum. Then it will loop around to the east and connect with Marine Drive.
An extension of Olympia Avenue will tie into Thurston Avenue to the west.
“One of the really exciting things about it is that this whole area is going to be a new commercial area where there wasn’t one before,” port spokeswoman Kathleen White said.
Dragon said crews have installed a water line along Jefferson Street and are working on a sewer system. Special purple pipe is being laid that will allow reclaimed water to be used to irrigate the site. Dragon said concrete on the site – including that along Jefferson Street – is being ground up and reused as road ballast instead of discarded.
The work also doubles as a major environmental cleanup project. The land is contaminated from decades of industrial uses. So crews have to test soils and remove the most toxic ones and are allowed to reuse some of the soil. That means separating soils into different piles. The state Department of Ecology is supervising the cleanup.
“The biggest twist on this project is just how we manage the soils,” Dragon said.
And it’s not just soil. Stormwater runoff from the site must be collected in trenches, then pumped into a special, on-site treatment plant.
LOTT HEADQUARTERS
While the groundwork is laid for roads and utilities, the LOTT Alliance is building a new headquarters/education building nearby. Framing for the four-story building is up, and work is 25 percent complete, said Karla Fowler, Community Relations and Environmental Policy director for LOTT, the region’s sewer utility.
Fowler said the $18.25 million project is on time and on budget, and should be finished in late spring or summer next year. LOTT is also completing the design for interpretive exhibits that will be installed in the new building.
Both the LOTT building and the new Hands-On Children’s Museum will be heated with methane gas that is generated from LOTT’s nearby sewage treatment plant, Fowler said. And the gas will also generate an undetermined amount of electricity for the two buildings, she said.
MUSEUM AND PLAZA
The three-story Hands-On Children’s Museum should start construction in summer to fall next year and be complete by fall 2011, executive director Patty Belmonte said. The building itself will cost about $10 million. The City of Olympia is buying the land for it from the Port of Olympia, and plans to close on the purchase this fall, Belmonte said. The city is contributing $7.9 million for the overall project from the Public Facilities District fund and $1 million from the Olympia lodging tax fund, Belmonte said.
She said cleanup is set to begin this fall on the museum site. She said nearly $13 million has been raised; the goal is $18 million.
“We feel great,” she said. “Everything’s on track.
A public plaza will sit next to the museum and have more than 30,000 square feet and a water feature, landscaping and open space. It will be developed through an interlocal agreement among the Port of Olympia, the LOTT Alliance and the city of Olympia.
PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT
The Port of Olympia is also planning for private development to occupy the East Bay site. It chose Tarragon of Seattle as its exclusive partner to develop the area. Tarragon submitted a proposal that includes new residential units, office and retail space, a restaurant, retail or convention space and a hotel. Those plans are just conceptual, and the port and market forces will determine what is eventually developed and when.
Matt Batcheldor: 360-704-6869
