The building is so “green,” dignitaries will carpool to its groundbreaking this week.
As part of the effort to achieve the highest environmental designation possible for the Center for Urban Waters, Tacoma’s new waterfront laboratory, officials have purposely limited the number of parking spaces at the building.
Limiting the parking is meant to encourage car-pooling, bicycling and walking when the building is completed sometime next spring.
In a bit of foreshadowing, city officials had to arrange for shuttle buses to carry people to its groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday.
U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, and his son David Dicks, executive director of the state’s Puget Sound Partnership, are among those expected to attend, along with Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma and other city officials.
The Center for Urban Waters is the long-planned multipurpose research facility that will house city laboratories, research space for the University of Washington Tacoma, and offices of the Puget Sound Partnership, the state agency charged with cleaning up Puget Sound.
The building has been controversial because of its price tag and the type of financing officials opted to use.
The total cost of the project is now $36.9 million. Officials were forced to scale down the plans to keep the price below $40 million.
The building is expected to achieve a platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED. Only about 100 buildings in the world have achieved the rank.
CONTROVERSIAL FINANCING
Earning the distinction adds some to the cost of the project, but officials have downplayed that as a reason for the cost of the building. Expenses due to environmental friendliness are in the range of 10 percent to 15 percent, they have said.
Three Tacoma City Council members out of eight voted against the project earlier this year, noting that the financing scheme known as 63-20 adds to the price. One of the dissenters was Councilman Jake Fey, an otherwise staunch supporter of the super-green building.
Rather than build the lab itself, the city opted to enter a partnership with the nonprofit National Development Council, which will build the structure and lease it back to the city. After 30 years, it will revert to city ownership.
The arrangement was intended to speed construction and possibly lower the overall cost of the building, though it added to the cost of financing.
The direct construction costs account for roughly $19 million of the total. The balance consists of “soft costs” such as planning and design, as well as contingencies.
The financing mechanism adds another $6.3 million to the bill.
Fey said the mechanism not only added to the finance cost of the building, but it also removed some of the city’s control over the process.
BIOTECHNOLOGY HUB
The three-story building will be a little over 51,000 square feet, and will include green features such as lots of daylight to cut down on lighting, radiant floor heating, and a rain garden and “green” roof to reduce runoff.
To save money, officials made a number of changes including switching from a concrete to a steel structure, and eliminating an atrium and associated skylight. They also straightened out of the design of the building, which reduced its footprint.
Councilman Mike Lonergan has consistently raised concerns about the cost of the building, the financing plan and the limited parking. The building will have parking for roughly 35 vehicles.
“I’m not sure it’s sound thinking,” Lonergan said. “It may in fact be wishful thinking.”
Still, Lonergan said he supports the overall aim of the project, which supporters say will help establish Tacoma as a West Coast hub for marine biotechnology.
Mayor Baarsma has been a solid supporter of the city’s aim of achieving a LEED platinum designation for the building.
Despite his complaints over the financing, Fey said it’s time to move on. He believes the center will lead to economic development opportunities for Tacoma.
“A lot of the focus has been on energy and climate change,” Fey said. “Entrepreneurship has not really been aimed at water quality in Puget Sound. This will position us well.”
The idea for the waterfront lab grew out of a failed attempt to build a downtown aquarium to attract tourists, but the current plan is far from a tourist trap.
The City of Tacoma, which will house the city’s water laboratory in the building, will use the most square footage.
The University of Washington Tacoma also will use laboratory space to research pollution in urban waterways.
Professor Joel Baker came to the UWT from Maryland to head up the Port of Tacoma chair in environmental science, a position supported by a $3 million endowment.
The Puget Sound Partnership, which has staff in Olympia and Seattle, will likely move the bulk of its 27-person staff – perhaps 15 or 20 people – into the building, David Dicks said.
Jason Hagey: 253-597-8542
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