Top pick of city hall developer emerges

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Top pick of city hall developer emerges

Submitted by Rob Richards on Wed, 11/02/2005 - 9:43am.

From the Olympian:

BY KATHERINE TAM
OLYMPIA -- A developer that's building a city hall in Redmond has emerged as the favorite for building a new city hall in this town.

–The article, which ran today, says that two other groups are in the running, but Wright Runstad & Company of Seattle has emerged as the City's top choice. According to The Olympian, police Chief Gary Michel, who is leading the search for a developer, sited Wright Runstad & Co.'s "direct experience with city halls and government buildings of the exact quality we think we'll need,"

One of the other two groups is Team Olympia, lead by the Rants Group. The other group is from Bellevue. The Olympian stated that Team Olympia "has worked on the Tumwater and Lakewood city halls, renovated the Lewis County Courthouse and Annex and constructed office buildings near Olympia Farmers Market". The City will be looking at all of the finalists before making a decision sometime this month, according to the Olympian.

I'd like to know how bringing in an outside developer is going to have an impact on our community. Wouldn't hiring a local group provide more good jobs to Olympians who desperatly need them than hiring an out of town developer? Perhaps the city would save money initially, but if W.R. & Co. were hired, and brought in workers already employed by them, would they spend their paychecks in Olympia? Most likely not, most likely they would go back home at the end of the day and spend their money in their communities. It seems that Team Olympia has experience with this kind of project, which makes me wonder if the Seattle group is the top pick because they're bidding lower. I would like to know more about this.

What do you guys think?

Also, can anyone explain to m

Submitted by Rob Richards on Wed, 11/02/2005 - 2:27pm.

Also, can anyone explain to me why our police chief is leading the efforts to find a developer? Perhaps he has had experience in this past with this sort of thing. I just can't imagine this being a part of his job.

I'm fairly certain that if an

Submitted by The Fire Inside on Wed, 11/02/2005 - 3:04pm.

I'm fairly certain that if an Olympia contractor were to be selected it wouldn't have any impact on the local unemployment. They, too, would use individuals who already work for the company. Of course, as you pointed out, the money made would stay in the Olympia-area.___Don't know why the police chief is heading the effort and can't really speculate. Having prior experience would sound like a reasonable explanation to me but, short of having someone from the City Council explain it, it's tough to guess.___Once again, Councilmember Mah is using reason. Why is the City already in the process of selecting a contractor? As far as I am aware, the City isn't even close to obtaining property.___I do love how Councilmember Johnson is preparing everyone for cost overruns with his statement of $20 million being "unrealistic." I can only wonder what "realistic" will look like.

I think there is evidence to

Submitted by Rob Richards on Wed, 11/02/2005 - 3:17pm.

I think there is evidence to show that large projects create jobs. I immediatly think of FDR and the CCC.

It does seem like they are putting the cart before the horse.

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