Tumwater’s National Guard readiness center groundbreaking is Thursday

The Washington National Guard is set to break ground on the Thurston County Readiness Center in a ceremony Thursday morning in Tumwater.

The facility on Kimmie Street Southwest will replace the Washington National Guard armories in Olympia and Puyallup.

It will be used largely for training by hundreds of guardsmen from multiple units, but it will have a small full-time staff.

The $35 million construction contract was awarded to Pease Construction in Lakewood. The building is designed to meet LEED Silver environmental rating standards.

Construction is scheduled to be complete by fall 2020.

This story was originally published October 24, 2018 at 9:45 AM.