Challenge to Views on Fifth development dismissed as project ramps up

A judge has dismissed a legal challenge to the controversial building project on the isthmus between Capitol Lake and West Bay in Olympia.

Developers plan to turn the long-vacant Capitol Center Building on Fifth Avenue Southwest into a mixed-use building with apartments, retail space and a ground-floor restaurant. The city’s hearing examiner signed off on the project, called Views on Fifth, in February.

A group that includes former Washington governors, a former secretary of state, a former state senator and a former mayor of Olympia filed a land use petition in Thurston County Superior Court in March to try to stop the development.

On Friday, Judge Carol Murphy granted the developer's motion to dismiss their petition for lack of standing.

Once the decision is in writing, the group will have 30 days to appeal. The group's attorney, Allen Miller, said if it decides to appeal, it could try to take the case directly to the state Supreme Court, given that work already has begun.

Work on the site has ramped up in recent weeks. Seismic upgrades to the nine-story tower are nearly complete, said Troy Nichols, a spokesman for Views on Fifth, and crews have started removing the windows and exterior.

Once that is done, they will start on the foundation for two new buildings that will go next to the tower.

Construction is scheduled to be completed in summer 2019.

This story was originally published June 6, 2018 at 3:10 PM with the headline "Challenge to Views on Fifth development dismissed as project ramps up."