A 12-story premium office building abandoned by Russell Investments more than a year ago remains empty, so a Pierce County councilman recently floated a new way to bring life to it: Move in hundreds of county employees.
The idea isn’t going anywhere.
Councilman Tim Farrell arranged a Dec. 16 tour of the downtown building that was attended by fellow County Councilman Stan Flemming and two employees with the facilities management department.
Farrell missed the tour because of illness. His assistant went in his place.
But top county leaders say they aren’t interested, a county spokesman said.
Farrell said last week that he’s concerned that the high-profile building at 909 A St. remains vacant. Moving several hundred employees into downtown Tacoma would be good for the area’s economy, he said, and the county holds a number of expensive leases for scattered offices.
“In this economy, you’ve got to turn over every rock to do the best you can for the public,” Farrell said.
He added: “It never hurts to ask, ever.”
But Farrell, a Democrat whose district includes downtown Tacoma, conceded it doesn’t make sense to move employees if it would be more expensive to lease the Russell building. It’s one of the largest Class A office buildings in Pierce County, meaning it has the ability to attract the most prominent tenants and command the highest rents.
County spokesman Hunter George said officials determined the idea “would not pencil out because we would have to buy our way out of leases” for existing buildings. The county leases a total of 162,000 square feet of office space in eight buildings throughout Tacoma at a cost of nearly $3 million a year, including parking, he said.
“We accommodated his request and went on the tour, but there’s no money in the budget certainly short-term and most likely long-term … for us to do a move like that,” George said.
Farrell, whose term is up at the end of 2012 and who is running for county assessor-treasurer, said he understands the decision rests with County Executive Pat McCarthy.
Bruce Kendall, president of the Tacoma-Pierce County Economic Development Board, said it doesn’t surprise him that a representative of a large public agency would express interest in the former investment company headquarters.
“Any big organization that needs lots of space would naturally take a look at it,” he said.
Ultimately, he said, he’d like to see a major tenant that pays high wages and generates a lot of foot traffic, whether from the public or private sectors.
“All things being equal, you’d like to see the private sector in there,” Kendall said.
Russell moved to Seattle in October 2010. Its lease in Tacoma expires in November 2013; any potential tenant would need to sublet from Russell or negotiate a buyout.
The building’s owner, Seattle-based Ilahie Holdings, hired local commercial brokerage firm Neil Walter Company to land new tenants.
The building has 224,000 square feet of office space. It’s designed to accommodate a single tenant, but brokers have said it could be retrofitted to hold more than one.
Christian Hill: 253-274-7390
christian.hill@thenewstribune.com
Twitter: @TNTchill
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