Pierce County wants to replace Remann Hall. Here’s what it looks like inside
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- Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello launched a task force to help guide plans to replace Remann Hall.
- The juvenile justice center in Tacoma, opened in 1971, is outdated, officials say.
- The 15-member task force is expected to provide recommendations by the end of next spring.
Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello signed a directive Aug. 18 establishing a 15-member task force to help guide plans to replace the aging juvenile justice center, Remann Hall, as officials opened up the complex to a media tour.
By the end of next spring, the Juvenile Justice Task Force is expected to deliver recommendations to the county about what a new facility should look like and how to pay for it, county officials said.
The county, which owns and operates Remann Hall in Tacoma, “can no longer provide the safe, accessible and supported environment that our young people, their families and our employees deserve” because the complex is “so outdated,” Mello said, prior to a tour that demonstrated the facility’s age and correctional atmosphere.
Many of the task force’s members were present for the Aug. 18 signing and tour. Retired Pierce County Superior Court Judge Kitty-Ann van Doorninck will serve as chair of the group. Other members come from judicial, educational, community, business or law enforcement backgrounds. One member is the grandparent of a child who has Remann Hall experience, according to the county.
Remann Hall maintains a youth detention center, courtrooms for criminal and child-welfare cases, diversion programs and other juvenile justice services across four buildings connected via enclosed hallways and underground tunnels. The complex opened in 1971 after it was built to replace the original facility constructed in 1948, according to News Tribune archives.
County officials have known for a decade or longer that many of Remann Hall’s systems are at the end of their useful life, including mechanical and electrical features, and that the site’s design does not align with current operations. Officials say the complex is too institutional and not conducive to rehabilitation, including lacking the infrastructure necessary to support alternatives to youth detention.
“People react to the environment they’re in,” Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Joseph Evans said during the tour.
The task force is ultimately being asked to reimagine Remann Hall as “a space that meets the real needs of young people and families — a place of restoration, growth and connection,” according to the county.
Members will have access to previous studies that contemplated major changes, including one in 2015 that examined a potential relocation to downtown Tacoma. The task force will not be limited to considering only the current site, 5501 6th Ave., for a new facility, according to county spokesperson Andriana Fletcher.
The most recent study, in 2023, promoted a roughly $180 million redevelopment at the existing location. Mello called it a “good starting place.” However, he said he was open to whatever the task force brings forward and he also realized that finances, including the near certainty of needing to issue a revenue bond, will be a significant challenge.
Mello argued it would be worse for young people and more expensive for taxpayers if troubled youth turned into criminal adults.
Under that scenario, “all of us are going to pay more as a result,” he said.
This story was originally published August 19, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
