Appeal of Wheeler project bogs down new Capitol gateway

By Adam Wilson | The Olympian • Published June 09, 2008

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OLYMPIA – The state's $141 million Heritage Center, envisioned as a new gateway to the Capitol, could be held up because of delays and a $110 million cost increase in a project on the other side of the Capitol Campus.

The Wheeler site

• Current budget estimate: $370 million

• How it's paid for: A private nonprofit set up by the developer will own the buildings. The state will enter into a lease-to-own agreement with the nonprofit. The law authorizing the buildings said rent per-square foot in the new buildings has to be within 110 percent of the comparable market rate.

• Who's in charge: Department of Information Services

• Location: East side of Capitol Campus, along Jefferson Street

• Includes: Department of Information Services headquarters. General Office Building for Washington State Patrol and smaller agencies. Data center for major computer systems.

• Scheduled start for construction: June 2008 (delayed until at least July)

• Scheduled completion date: February 2010

• Web site: www.dis.wa.gov/wheelerSM.htm

The Heritage Center Project

• Current budget estimate: $141 million

• How it's paid for: Bonds in a form called certificate of participation. They are repaid with rents paid now by the State Library and archives, as well as a $2 filing fee for real estate transactions and a $5 fee on incorporation filings. Private fundraising will pay for some of the exhibits.

• Who's in charge: Secretary of State's Office

• Location: North side of Capitol Campus, built into the hillside of above Capitol Lake

• Includes: State Archives, State Library, auditorium and museum space

• Scheduled start for construction: April 2010

• Scheduled completion date: Fall 2012

• Web site: www.ga.wa.gov/hceob

The Executive Office Building

• Current budget estimate: $80 million

• How it's paid for: Bonds in a form called certificate of participation. Rent charged to the state agencies in the building repays the bonds.

• Who's in charge: Department of General Administration

• Location: North side of Capitol Campus, on top of the Heritage Center

• Includes: Offices for state agencies, including Office of the Insurance Commissioner

• Scheduled start for construction: April 2010

• Scheduled completion date: Fall 2012

• Web site: www.ga.wa.gov/hceob

The folks at the Secretary of State's office would like to be thinking about state-of-the-art exhibit techniques such as theater chairs at Mount Vernon that vibrate during Revolutionary War battle scenes, and the displays of Watergate relics at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Secretary of State Sam Reed has championed the center, which would include a museum, event space, and a cafe, in addition to the State Library and Archives.

But construction of the center isn't scheduled to start until the east side project near Wheeler Street is finished.

That project, a new data center and offices for the state, is stalled during an appeal by neighbors of the state's plan to deal with the traffic it will add to the campus entrance.

And the project's cost estimate has gone from $260 million last year to $370 million.

Whether the issues will delay the Heritage Center and the related $80 million Executive Office Building is unclear, but nerves have been rattled.

"I think the Secretary of State should be worried. I don't blame him at all," said Rep. Bill Fromhold, the chairman of the House Capital Budget Committee.

Reed said he's made a firm commitment to the Legislature and the people he's asking for donations to support the project: "This is what we're going to do. We're going to do it on time. Well, on time is a little bit more of a challenge."

The Legislature, prompted by Thurston County Democratic Sen. Karen Fraser, first spent money on designing the Heritage Center in 2005. It is scheduled to be finished in 2012.

In contrast, the first money for the eastside project, known as the Wheeler project, was authorized last year. It's scheduled to be completed in 21 months.

The hurry is driven by logistics. The new buildings at the east end of the campus need to go up so the agencies now in the General Administration Building will have a place to go.

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