At the beginning of the month GlobeSt.com reported that the city was in early consideration of the idea. During the City Council's first public discussion of the idea this week, council members and the mayor called it a bargain and suggested it be done without raising property taxes.

The preliminary plan would be to pay Qwest $94 per sf ($28 million) for the mid-rise office building built in 1983. Renovating the building for city needs, however, could push the total project cost to between $300- and $350-per sf ($90-$105 million). By comparison, the City of Seattle is looking to build a new 350,000-sf Downtown office building for a total project cost of about $300 per sf.

Bellevue would use the Qwest building for consolidated police and fire headquarters and city departments. Instead of raising property taxes for the acquisition and renovation, the city is considering tapping reserve funds and revenue for future capital projects that could be delayed.