Hopes for new center still alive

Developers again express interest in downtown conference facility

MICHAEL BURNHAM, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published December 29, 2001

OLYMPIA -- It's been a year of feast or famine, drought or flood in South Sound, and the efforts to create a conference center in Olympia have followed a similar ebb-and-flow pattern.

After a flurry of activity around such a project early in the year, the idea lost steam. But city and Port of Olympia officials have met with two different parties in the past two months that are interested in developing a conference center on a 3.7-acre port parcel north of State Avenue.

Still, general support for such a center appears to be ebbing.

"With the concept of a public facilities district (to support a conference center) getting dimmer by the month, and the events of September having pretty much knocked out the hospitality industry, I don't know how much longer this project is going to be considered viable," Port of Olympia Executive Director Nick Handy said this week.

The conference center idea was initially given a boost early in the year when private consultants served up a new study that suggested that Thurston County municipalities use state legislation to publicly fund a convention center with a 12,000-square-foot main hall on Port of Olympia property.

The study said the center would need at least 200 hotel rooms within five blocks to support it.

By April, port officials announced that an undisclosed Northwest developer was interested in adding the hotel. But the Portland developer backed away from a deal in August, and hopes for a public-private partnership to build a conference center quickly retreated.

But private-sector interest is on the upswing again.

Officials from Opus Northwest of Bellevue toured the port site and met with local government officials. Opus expressed interest in building either a conference center or mixed-use building on either port or city property, said Olympia Mayor Stan Biles.

Handy said Opus built the state Department of Labor and Industries building in Tumwater. He said the Bellevue developer has not contacted the port about a building a conference center.

Spokane developer David Brubaker also met with city, port and local college representatives in November -- the last of three trips to Olympia.

"His definition of a conference center is really different than what we've seen thus far," Biles said.

Brubaker could not be reached for comment, but city officials say the center would be smaller than the proposed 12,000-square-foot conference center and cater to large corporations that want to meet off-site.

The complex would feature state-of-the-art amenities and limited lodging for the smaller conferences. It also would be available for use by colleges and the general public, Biles said.

"It is a very high-end conference facility," Biles said. "There is nothing like it in the Northwest, which is one of the reasons why (Brubaker) is interested."

The project does have at least one thing in common with others interested in a public-private conference center:

"He wants the city to build it ... and he'd bring the private sector in to operate it," Handy said.

Fading opportunities

But the hopes for using public dollars for an Olympia conference center are growing increasingly dim.

Port and local business leaders have said that the quick approval of a conference center taxing district would make it easier to secure private investment for a hotel.

If construction of a new regional center or improvement of an existing regional center begins before Jan. 1, 2003, a city-created or county-created public facilities district can impose a 0.033 percent sales and use tax that is deducted from the state sales tax.

Before the Portland developer's departure, Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater officials considered creating an initial, limited charter that would allow Olympia to use some of the state dollars solely for the study of the center's feasibility.

When elected officials lost interest in August, so did one prominent South Sound developer that had visions of spearheading the conference center project.

Representatives of The Rants Group, a South Sound development company, introduced representatives from The Garfield Corp. of Dallas to local government and business leaders in late May, but port officials said the Melvin Mark Development Co. of Portland was their first choice.

When the Portland developer backed away from the deal, Rants briefly revived talks with the Dallas company. Rants maintains that there must be an initial public investment for a deal.

"For it to work, it is going to have to be a public-private partnership," said The Rants Group's Pat Rants.

While considering at least a half-dozen proposals to develop the State Avenue property, port officials still contend that a conference center is their preferred use for the land.

But port development director Heber Kennedy said the supply of hotels in South Sound and elsewhere now surpasses demand.

While Biles said the city has not received formal proposals from either the Bellevue or Spokane developers, he's optimistic about the project.

"The demise of the Tyee Hotel, the attractiveness of the state capital, and the discussions over the past year have brought Olympia to the attention of new developers," Biles said. "I'm hopeful that eventually an agreement is going to be reached on public and private investment for a conference center."

New project?

A proposal for a smaller Tumwater conference center that surfaced after the Portland developer's departure remains viable, its backers say.

Officials with the Tumwater American Legion Post 166 hope to complete the construction of a $4 million conference center by October 2002.

A 22,000-square-foot retail development would encompass the 11,200-square-foot conference center with an 8,000-square-foot main hall, said post adjutant Gary Foote.

The project awaits approval from post membership in January, Foote said.

To date, the city of Tumwater has not received a permit application for the project, said Tumwater Development Services Director Roger Gellenbeck.

Michael Burnham covers Olympia for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-704-6869.

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