State bid stirs up downtown, surprises UWT
KATHLEEN COOPER; The News Tribune
The possibility of the state Attorney Generals Office in Tacoma moving to the Brewery District to a building a stones throw from the University of Washington Tacoma has wheels turning downtown.
University of Washington Tacoma spokesman Mike Wark said Thursday that university leadership is trying to learn where this process is because it was surprised to find out that a building so close to the campus was going to be turned into office space.
And MJR Development, the Kirkland-based company that was the successful bidder, doesnt yet own the property where it proposed to build for the 100-employee Attorney Generals Office.
The states Department of General Administration said last week that MJR was the successful bidder for 36,000 square feet of new offices. Its proposal was for the Jet building at 2101 S. Jefferson Ave., which is about 80,000 square feet. Its owned by Dale Chihuly and houses his shipping and publishing business.
We have had an unsolicited offer on the building, and that offer is being considered, Janet Makela, a spokeswoman for Chihuly, said Thursday morning. None of the buildings were put on the market.
Makela said Chihuly is not looking for another location for the shipping and publishing business. Our commitment and Chihulys commitment to Tacoma remains steadfast. We have no intention of leaving Tacoma, she said.
The Jefferson Avenue property was built in 1919 and is on the corner of South Jefferson Avenue and South 21st Street. South 21st is one of the borders of UWTs footprint, the area defined by its master plan where it can use state money to build.
Wark said the universitys master plan calls for finding opportunities outside the footprint for student services, such as residence halls, so that the state money can be used to build academic buildings as the student body grows.
To that end, Wark said, the university has been working with the city to identify the best uses for the Brewery District.
Wed love to have the AGs office for our neighbor, Wark said. But if the university had known that Chihulys property was available, we would have been interesting in talking about it.
We emphasize purchasing properties when people are ready to sell, Wark said. The UWT owns close to 80 percent of the property within its footprint, he said. If properties became available close to campus that would serve us 20 years down the road, it would be our responsibility to look at that.
General Administrations Cheral Jones said last Friday that MJR was waiting on the outcome of the bid to start the work and that it has a construction schedule that will allow the attorneys to move in by the end of next year.
The attorney generals 100 workers occupy six floors in the Washington Building at 1019 Pacific Ave., where the lease is up in June.
The state delayed the request for proposal for the office space after Russell Investments announced that it was moving to Seattle. That move will open up more than 200,000 square feet of Class A office space in the downtown core, and General Administration said it wanted to know how that move would affect the market for office space.
The states debriefing period for the other bidders ends today, and the protest period begins Monday and lasts through Oct. 14.
General Administration spokesman Jim Erskine said this office space search was the first to use a modified process that didnt require the bidders to prove they had control of the property they were offering.
Developers told the government that it would be easier for them and make for a more competitive atmosphere if proof of control wasnt required until after the state chose a winner, he said. So the process was modified earlier this year.
The state seemed to anticipate the possibility that a successful bidder might not be able to follow through, outlining in the original request that the state reserves the right to terminate discussions and select another apparent successful proposer, re-advertise, or terminate discussions without taking further action.
Were not at this stage yet, Erskine said. The ball is in the court of MJR.
MJR partner Mark Lahaie said Thursday that he had no comment.
Kathleen Cooper: 253-597-8546
kathleen.cooper@thenewstribune.com
