David Brubaker, a Spokane developer had hoped to break ground on the facility in mid-December. Plans called for the center be built under the Green buildings guidelines and would have included a full-service kitchen and about 100 guest rooms for conference use, rather than an adjacent hotel.
The proposed 3.7-acre center would have contained on-site parking and room for center expansion. The facility would have included about 13,000 sf of main hall meeting space, including smaller rooms with classroom-style seating and high-tech amenities for training sessions.
The center was to be owned by a public facilities district, comprised of the cities of Lacey, Olympia and Tumwater. Harrison Conference Centers, a division of Hilton Hotels Corp., would run the facility.
Provided development had begun by Jan. 1, 2003, the district could have earmarked about $10.5 million of state sales tax money to help finance the public/private venture.
It's possible the state Legislature, which has a couple of applicable bills pending, might buy the city some time to salvage the project. But the fate of that proposed legislation, which would give municipalities with public facilities districts an additional year to break ground on new projects, is unclear.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
