The General Administration building on the Capitol Campus in Olympia is wearing out.
Completed in 1956, the white-block building commands a view of Capitol Lake and South Puget Sound but is considered a risk in an earthquake. Water from its taps isn’t drinkable. Workers on a couple of recent Monday mornings shivered in overcoats as the building’s 43-degree interior slowly warmed from weekend chills.
Then there are the ventilation and fire sprinkler systems that fall well short of modern codes. A heating system failure in the fall required more than $500,000 in emergency repairs to fix steam valves and piping that left the building without heat or hot water for six weeks, and a full renovation of the building could cost $90 million.
Those are among the reasons Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed relocating about 600 workers who use the structure and spend $6.3 million to knock it down – starting as soon as December 2011.
“That thing is a liability. It’s an unfunded liability. It is a pit,” Gregoire told The Olympian’s editorial board when asked if the state could afford the demolition.
GA spokesman Steve Valandra said last week that the agency had little choice but to make the emergency outlay to fix the steam valves and leaking pipes.
“There was a danger of that valve blowing up when it was discovered,” he said.
A report done in 2006 for the Department of General Administration said renovation of the structure could cost $90 million, including seismic improvements. That would be more than a new executive office building on the site was predicted to cost in 2007, Valandra said.
The building, designed by architect A. Gordon Lumm in what is called the “international style,” was erected before modern seismic codes were adopted, according to a 2006 report by consultant SRG Partnership Inc.
It once was slated for demolition by June 2010 to make way for a new Heritage Center, but the latter project stalled amid the slow economy. Although the GA building is listed on a national historic register, deputy state historic preservation officer Greg Griffith said that is an honorary recognition and would not block the demolition.
Griffith said GA has gone through a process to determine how to save historic features of the building, including a large replica of the state seal on the exterior and a 315-square-foot mosaic mural showing the state’s industrial, scientific and economic heritage.
If lawmakers agree to the demolition, the mural and its 180,000 pieces of glass and stone could be relocated. GA-based staffers from more than a dozen agencies – including about 200 State Patrol employees in administrative roles – also would be relocated.
There is space in the new Department of Information Services headquarters for some employees, and multiple offices DIS is vacating will make room for other workers – if the Legislature agrees to pay for the demolition and moving.
Gregoire said some of the moves fit with her decision to lump GA and other government functions into a new Department of Enterprise Services. She said that co-locating some of the services for state personnel and payroll with Information Services will help make the new agency efficient.
Also part of the proposal: demolishing the parking garage and buildings that made up the adjacent block that now houses the Hands On Children’s Museum, which is heading to a new home in Olympia’s north downtown by spring 2012.
The exact timing of the demolition work depends on the museum’s relocation, however, according to spokesman Glenn Kuper of the governor’s budget office.
“We need them to move into their new location before we do anything,” Kuper said, describing one large demolition job that would take in “that whole block there; GA and all the way down to the children’s museum.”
Patty Belmonte, executive director for the museum, said the new museum is expected to open in spring 2012, adding that some exhibits will remain in the former building beyond then.
Democratic state Sen. Karen Fraser of Thurston County helped win financing for the Heritage project only to see it go by the wayside. But she favors demolishing the GA building and in the past favored putting in an executive office building next to the Heritage Building – two ideas no longer on anyone’s front burner.
“The problem is the GA building has reached the end of its life. The conditions in there are terrible,” Fraser said.
On a recent tour of the structure, building manager Dave Boyer pointed out asbestos-lined pipes and cracked concrete walls near staircases. Two old penthouse structures on the fifth floor and roof house the aging heating and ventilation equipment for the 284,000-square-foot building.
Huge, lumbering fans haul fresh air into the building. Sound from the rumbling 8-foot fan blades bounces into hallways a floor below. The air and heat systems have seen few modifications over the years – which makes it hard, if not impossible, to keep the building’s temperature at optimal levels in summer or winter.
Boyer said the steam-heating system was designed for a futuristic, wide-open floor plan. But as the building’s use changed over the years, renovations added walls, and over time these created a warren of smaller office spaces and uneven heat flow. If Boyer wants to adjust air flow in the building, someone must go up to the fifth floor and manually adjust a damper, he said.
To a large degree, the steam-heat system runs either on or off – which means it gets cold on weekends and is hard to warm up each workweek, Boyer said.
For employees at the Judicial Conduct Commission, the building offers one of the best views in town from its fourth-floor conference room.
The agency moved into renovated space at GA around 2004, and the noisy roof fans aren’t much bother. But the staffers have discovered that the offices have poor air quality; they must drink purified water; and the elevators break down. Commission executive director Reiko Callner said she also is aware of the building’s seismic vulnerabilities and, like many who were interviewed, hopes she is not in the building for the next big earthquake.
Decrepit or not, the building is considered good enough for lobbyists. The Third House message center for lobbyists will be operating in rented space at GA during the 105-day session that begins Jan. 10.
It’s not clear where all of the dozen agencies with staff in the building will go if the demolition were to get approval, or where replacement parking space would be found.
Other tenants include the State Patrol; the Legislative Service Center (and hot line); the governor’s four commissions on minority affairs; part of the state treasurer’s staff; the Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials; and a cafeteria.
The State Patrol is one of the biggest tenants, with 200 administrative staffers including those who handle internal investigations. Patrol spokesman Bob Calkins said there are advantages and disadvantages to the building, which puts staff members conveniently close to the Capitol.
But he said the agency is neutral about staying or moving: “We’ll go wherever they send us.”
Brad Shannon: 360-753-1688 bshannon@theolympian.com www.theolympian.com/politicsblog
Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed capital budget would spend about $2.1 billion and includes a bond issue of up to $900 million. Gregoire says she wants to sell off about 17 properties, potentially raising $86 million.
Among those are the “market buildings” that the Department of Fish and Wildlife owns near the Olympia Farmers Market on three pieces of land. The properties are at:
• 600 Capitol Way N., valued at $2.28 million.
• 516 Washington St. N.E., valued at $1.45 million.
• 608 Washington St. N.E., valued at $735,700.
Sen. Karen Fraser, D-Thurston County, said a study of the properties’ best uses is under way. Options include an outright sale or development.
“A major option being looked at … is the City of Olympia could take charge of developing it and the state and city would share” in revenues, Fraser said. “The question is what’s the most practical and useful way to maximize return to the taxpayers for that investment. The property is certainly very under-utilized right now. It could be an asset to the area.”
No timeline for disposal of the property is set, according to Glenn Kuper of the governor’s Office of Financial Management. But Gregoire’s proposal still needs approval by the Legislature.
One other state property in Olympia also is on the list: the Department of Personnel building at 600 Franklin St., which once housed a Sears store. It is valued at $1.7 million, and Personnel is vacating to move all of its nearly 200 staffers into the new Department of Information Services building.