Thurston County okays $14 million potential purchase of Tumwater building for Sheriff’s use

Building at 1111 Israel Road will help consolidate departments and to meet needs for 20 years

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At a meeting yesterday, September 17, Thurston County’s Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) approved the potential purchase of a building for the Thurston County Sheriff's Office (TCSO) to co-locate all operational units and provide future expansion space.

The $14,250,000 building is at parcel number 82700600100 at 1111 Israel Road in Tumwater and follows the voters’ passage of the Public Safety Sales Tax last year.

“This infrastructure project is being funded via bond out of the Sheriff’s Office budget, which means the county will free up general fund dollars to resolve the remaining courthouse space issues we are encountering as Thurston County continues to boom past 300,000 citizens,” Sheriff Derek Sanders wrote on a social media post.

Sanders said that over the past decade, the office had run on the challenge of split operations with bureaus divided into the jail, courthouse, and field operations. There is also no space for additional workforce growth.

“We have no space for additional employees. It is not regular for deputies to stand waiting to log evidence, to get on to computers…and this is before we add any additional bodies…We are hiring a lot. We are anticipating to fill all nine of our new... deputy positions this year and we don't think we're gonna have a problem filling the majority of the 18 for 2025,” said Sanders.

Sanders highlighted that the purchase is a cheaper alternative than the office’s current rental or new construction.

“What I was looking forward (to) was to consolidate us into one building that the county could then own; we are no longer paying rent because as of right now the field operations bureau pays rent every year to the port, and also in a cheaper manner than new construction,” added Sanders.

The main goal of the purchase according to Sanders is to “anchor” all deputies into one building, which will consolidate staff which is a “luxury” other police departments have had for decades.

“I just appreciate everyone's collaboration on this and recognizing there's been a lot of needs for the Sheriff's Office, but this is just one more step to get us out of second to last in the state, which is pretty close to being second to last place in the country at this point,” said Sanders.

Property selection process

At a meeting on Tuesday, September 17, Capital Projects Planning Manager Rick Thomas explained the purchase of a Tumwater property for use by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.
At a meeting on Tuesday, September 17, Capital Projects Planning Manager Rick Thomas explained the purchase of a Tumwater property for use by the …

The public safety sales tax included funding for a new sheriff’s facility. Central Services worked with TCSO early this year to find an existing building in good condition to consolidate the workforce.

The county’s real estate broker then provided ten buildings within the Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater area, assessed for accessibility, physical condition, total area to accommodate current and anticipated 20-year needs, and projected purchase price.

Four facilities were shortlisted from the initial list, and the staff selected the building at 1111 Israel Rd.

“These four buildings were toured by Central Services and the Sheriff's Office staff and the 1111 Israel Rd. building was determined to best meet the criteria. The 111 Israel building Rd. building appears to have been very well maintained since its construction about 15 years ago,” said Rick Thomas, Capital Projects Planning Manager.

After receiving direction from the county commissioners, the central services staff negotiated with the seller.

“Negotiations commenced in April of 2024 and concluded in August of 2024 with an agreed purchase price of $14,250,000 this is just over $250 a square foot…which is a very reasonable price for a 56,000 square foot four-star building,” Thomas added.

In commercial real estate, buildings are rated one to five stars, with five being the highest. Thomas shared that a four—or five-star building’s purchase price is typically $550 per square foot, and building a new four—or five-star building costs $700 per square foot.

“We opted to seek out an existing building instead of building new, and expect to save tens of millions of dollars. The sale price for this building is $14.25M. For context, Lacey is building a state-of-the-art police department for $61M+, illustrating that the going rate for new construction is hyper-inflated,” Sanders wrote on a social media post.

The county must make an escrow deposit of $500,000, which commences a 105-day thorough inspection of the property.

The remaining balance will be paid once the county decides to purchase the building, and the deposit will be refunded if the county does not proceed with the purchase.

Sanders announced upcoming Town Halls for October when individuals may voice concerns, ask questions, and get updates about public safety issues, including this project.

  • October 2 from 6 p.m. onwards at the Yelm Community Center, 301 2nd St SE, Yelm
  • October 9 from 6 p.m. onwards at the Swede Hall, 18543 Albany St SW, Rochester
  • October 16 from 6:30 p.m. onwards at Griffin School, 6530 33rd Ave NW, Olympia
  • October 23 from 6 p.m. onwards Kodiak Room, 225 Sussex Ave W, Tenino
  • October 30 from 6 p.m. onwards at The Hub, 676 Woodland Square Lp SE

Comments

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  • bonaro

    This exactly what they did with the purchase of the Tyson Seafood building in Mottman. Bought for 13 million and after a decade of non use, they sold it for 3 million... after they gave away most of the parking area for the homeless village.

    Ask lots of questions before you support this.

    Friday, September 20 Report this

  • Southsoundguy

    Commercial real estate is wildly over priced. For a non-investment piece that will require another several million in upgrades, that price sucks. Building new is worse, but these dumb prices will continue until buyers start taking sellers to the woodshed.

    Friday, September 20 Report this

  • DudeInOlympia

    It makes me sad the schools sometimes need a couple million here and there and if they don't get it extremely consequential actions must be taken that change the trajectory of kids educations.. meanwhile $15m on a new building. I get needing to invest in public safety, but kills me seeing how many things across the city that are extremely underfunded (even by only a few 100k or less) and things like this go through. We should not be complacent, and make sure information is fully transparent when spending this type of tax monies.

    Friday, September 20 Report this

  • ARLormand

    That building houses the Headquarters for Washington State Parks. Are they moving or are they going to co-locate?

    Friday, September 20 Report this

  • JW

    I can get behind this much more than floating an enormous bond for a massive courthouse complex

    Saturday, September 21 Report this

  • Southsoundguy

    New leadership is needed, but not just people, new philosophies.

    Sunday, September 22 Report this