Panattoni continues to propose warehouses in Tumwater
With or without a development agreement, warehouse developer Panattoni is continuing to explore warehouse options in Tumwater.
That’s according to city information, which shows that developer representatives met with Tumwater officials on Thursday.
A 449,000-square-foot warehouse at 7901 Center St. SW, which was previously pitched to the city, has advanced to the formal review stage, according to the information.
Typically at that stage, city officials would be prepared to give formal approval, saying they agreed with the site plan and that the developer could apply for grading and site development permits, Community Development Director Mike Matlock said.
However, for this particular proposal, which Panattoni is now calling the South Sound Commerce Center, they still have some work to do, Matlock said. For one, the city still needs a legal lot to consider, so Panattoni needs to go through the short-plat process, he said.
Once that process is complete, the developer could submit a notice of application, which would trigger a public comment period, Matlock said.
But that wasn’t the only thing Panattoni talked about on Thursday.
The company also pitched a completely new proposal called Center Street Commerce. It proposes to build two warehouses that total a little over 300,000 square feet at 8277 Center St. SW.
Matlock said the Center Street Commerce proposal is very much in the feasibility stage, a time when developers “kick the tires” to see if a project makes sense or not.
Why is Panattoni doing this? The Tumwater land under consideration is part of a 200-acre parcel owned by the Port of Olympia. It’s part of the port’s New Market Industrial Campus that’s west of Olympia Regional Airport and east of I-5.
About two years ago, the port and Panattoni struck an option agreement that allows the developer to explore the site for development and potentially sign long-term ground leases with the port.
As part of that process, the port and city of Tumwater negotiated a development agreement. Such agreements do not replace the city’s normal land-use process, but typically offer assurances and incentives to both developer and the city.
The Tumwater City Council ultimately approved a version of the agreement that the port could not support.
Despite the lack of an agreement, any proposal before the city will still have to be in compliance with the city’s comprehensive plan and zoning codes, Matlock said.
This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 5:45 AM.
