Modular building setup at Capitol Campus marks start of major renovation project
Expect some extra noise around the Capitol Campus through Nov. 27 as the multi-year Legislative Campus Modernization project moves into full swing, according to the Washington state Department of Enterprise Services.
Traffic and parking will be impacted, DES says.
DES said that 16 building modules were delivered to the Governor’s Mansion parking lot last Thursday, Nov. 10. A 150-foot-tall crane will be brought in on Thursday, Nov. 17, to assemble the building modules into the Legislative Modular Building, which will be used by staff displaced by renovation work.
Parking at the former visitor’s information center and on the north and south diagonals may be busier than usual, DES noted. The Mansion lot will be closed until Nov. 27.
The work is part of the Legislative Campus Modernization project to address space needs of legislative agencies and critical issues with the Irving R. Newhouse, Joel M. Pritchard and John L. O’Brien buildings. The project is expected to take place over the next six to seven years.
The Legislative Modular Building is being placed on the southeast corner of the existing Governor’s Mansion parking lot. In this step, legislators and staff who have been housed in the Newhouse building will be moved to the modular building in December, before the 2023 Legislative session begins in January.
Demolition work on the Newhouse building is slated for late 2023. Newhouse staff will move into a newly constructed building once it is complete, likely in the summer of 2025.
Other staff and legislators who are displaced from their offices as building projects around campus continue also will use the Legislative Modular Building temporarily. The modular building is expected to be on campus for up to eight years as campus projects are completed.
According to DES, the Newhouse building was built in 1934 to only be a temporary structure and it does not currently meet code requirements, including “significant health and life safety hazards.”
This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
