Bothell Mayor Mark Lamb said the next step will be engaging residents as to their ideas on the appearance of what will be the new home of their municipal government.
On Feb. 15, in a 5-2 vote, Bothell City Council approved an $850,000 agreement with Seattle’s Vulcan Real Estate to develop a 60,000-square-foot municipal complex along with what could be up to 100,000 square feet of adjacent mixed retail, commercial and office space.
Councilmembers Patrick Ewing and Tris Samberg voted against the measure. According to a city spokesperson, Samberg indicated she supported the overall project, but felt councilmembers needed more time to digest the deal with Vulcan.
The project will grow up on the same block that is home to Bothell’s current City Hall on 101st Avenue Northeast. In fact, Lamb said the plan is to keep city operations in the current hall until the new municipal center is complete. The move will eliminate any need to lease temporary space, Lamb said.
The new municipal complex is the latest project in a line of developments designed to transform and grow the center of Bothell.
According to information released by the city, 15 companies submitted proposals for the Bothell municipal center. Five were invited to take part in a second round of submittals, though one dropped out. Eventually, a committee consisting of City Manager Bob Stowe and other administration officials settled on Vulcan.
Vulcan was founded by Microsoft mogul Paul Allen. Lamb said he particularly was impressed by the company’s work with the South Lake Union neighborhood in Seattle.
“I think Vulcan presented us with the best opportunity to build a great city center,” Lamb said. He added the firm had created a “very interesting space” in South Lake Union.
Vulcan Vice-President of Real Estate Ada Healey said her firm was helping develop some 60 acres in South Lake Union. They have been adding commercial space at the rate of about 500,000 square feet a year. Healey said she expects to have some 5 million square feet of capacity completed by 2013.
“We like to think of ourselves as community builders,” Healey said. She also insisted the firm was impressed by Bothell’s overall redevelopment plans.
“As we looked throughout the region for new opportunities to create great spaces, we were drawn to the forward-looking nature of this smart project,” Healey said in a press release.
“Redeveloping the city hall block creates a critical and vibrant connection in the city’s core,” Stowe said, also in a release.
As has been previously announced, officials are using a somewhat unique means of building and financing the city hall project. They have set aside the usual method of designing a building, bidding out the construction and then building the building.
Instead, Stowe and Lamb both said the city will make use of what is known as a 63-20 approach. Named after the Internal Revenue Service rule that allows the development method, 63-20 gives Bothell several advantages, Stowe claimed. Perhaps most notably, Stowe expects to shave about 15-20 percent off the total cost while obtaining what he called a superior project.
Essentially, development is turned over to a nonprofit entity. In this case, the city has chosen the National Development Center. Together, the center and Vulcan take on much of the risk of the overall project, according to both Stowe and Lamb.
For example, officials said Bothell will be insulated from the cost overruns often connected with such large-scale projects, particularly in the case of building material costs. At the same time, Lamb made clear the city maintains complete control over the design of the development.
Eventually, once the project is built, the city leases the building from the developer for a fixed term until construction costs are paid. The city then takes outright ownership.
Overall, Bothell hopes to leverage about $150 million in public investment into possibly $650 in private investment in its downtown and in the surrounding area. Stowe said one next step is for the city to declare as surplus about five acres along Bothell Way Northeast.
That property is part of the land Bothell purchased from the Northshore School District. The idea always has been to sell the land to a private developer. At least one plan for the former school property already has been announced by the city with great fanfare, namely the intention of the McMenamins Brew Pub group to transform the former Anderson School on Bothell Way into a hotel and entertainment complex.
