Pierce County’s decision to give a boost to the Eastside by replacing the shuddered Puget Sound Hospital with a consolidated administrative complex could be just the thing for the neighborhood.
Pierce County mothballed the former hospital in 2010 and put it up for sale. The sluggish economy and rising repair costs at other government offices prompted County Executive Pat McCarthy to seek other uses for the site. Born from that need came her proposal for a new home for the county offices, creating efficiencies in staffing and service-delivery as well as providing convenient “one-stop shopping” for people who use county services. The Pierce County Council is scheduled to vote in January on the terms of the lease-to-own agreement, which is still being developed.
But the direction is clear. County offices are planning a new complex that will cost $90 million and span 300,000 square feet of offices for about 1,300 county employees, including the Pierce County Health Department. Although costs of the nine-story building are still in flux as design plans are finalized, the County could come close to breaking even on the first day of occupancy, based on the amount of money to be saved on rented office space and other efficiencies allowed by the consolidation of offices as early as November 2016.
That change would bring thousands of workers and government-services seekers to the neighborhood.