South Sound 911 considers Puget Sound Hospital site

South Sound 911 is the latest agency to propose building on the site of the former Puget Sound Hospital in Tacoma.

The multijurisdiction dispatch and records center issued a statement Wednesday afternoon saying it is considering the 8-acre site at 3580 Pacific Ave. for a “unified, state-of-the-art public safety communications center.”

The site, owned by Pierce County, is larger than the 5 to 6 acres the agency needs to build its facilities. The additional land could be developed for other uses, the statement says.

“We are confident and pleased about the possibility of remaining and investing in the neighborhood we have gotten to know these last few months,” South Sound 911 Executive Director Andrew Neiditz wrote in the release.

The agency had planned to buy a county-owned site at 3602 Pacific Ave.

The proceeds of the sale would have allowed Pierce County to raze the vacant hospital, which had been slated for demolition to make way for a $127 million county administration building before voters rejected the plan last year.

But the county’s plan to relocate the agencies now at the 3602 Pacific Ave. site fell apart last week, leaving South Sound 911 still without a permanent home.

It wasn’t the first setback for the emergency communications agency. South Sound 911 had hoped to move from its administrative location at 955 Tacoma Ave. S. to a 6-acre site in Fircrest until the site was found to have unstable and possibly contaminated soil. The agency has its offices scattered there and five other places.

This story was originally published June 22, 2016 at 7:18 PM with the headline "South Sound 911 considers Puget Sound Hospital site."