Port Closer To Pier 69 Relocation

Staff members of the Port of Seattle recommended publicly today that the Port of Seattle spend $26.8 million and move from its long-time home at Pier 66 to new offices it would build at Pier 69.

The port has been based at Pier 66 since 1914.

Port commissioners are considering the move as part of a plan to make room for the $90 million central waterfront project, which would occupy Pier 66 and port-owned land on Alaskan Way. Because the port regards its offices as a separate project, the cost of moving has not been included in the central waterfront estimate.

Commissioners generally accept recommendations from staff members.

Last week, commissioners were briefed individually on the analysis. Thursday, the commission will formally meet for a public briefing, followed by a vote Sept. 25. The commission is expected to endorse the move and begin a search for a general contractor.

Port staff members studied the cost of relocating near to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport or to downtown office space, or temporarily relocating as the Pier 66 building was refurbished. Moving to Pier 69, which the port has owned since 1988, was the best deal, staff members found.

``It's clearly the least-expensive alternative,'' Commissioner Paul Schell said of the move to Pier 69. He said plans show the port could be in its new offices at Pier 69 by the summer of 1992.

``I'm inclined to go along with it,'' said Commission President Patricia Davis.

Agency staff members were scheduled to hold a press briefing today to release financial details of their recommendation. The port employs 1,235 people, with about 400 at Pier 66. The move to Pier 69 would boost the port's office space from 115,000 square feet to 160,000. At Pier 69, the port would remodel and occupy a concrete shell built in 1910 as a cannery. About 50,000 square feet of Pier 69 would be leased to private tenants.

The Pier 66 area then would be cleared for public amenities in the central waterfront project, such as a planned maritime museum, Davis said. She said the port would make more money by renting out office space to private groups at Pier 66 than at Pier 69.

Also, because Pier 66's underdock and port headquarters need extensive work, port employees would have to move out regardless of where headquarters were located.

Moving to Pier 69 would cost $26.8 million, compared with $61 million for downtown offices, $40.9 million for space in the Sea-Tac area and $32 million to renovate Pier 66, according to the port's memo.

Elizabeth Springer, co-chairwoman of the PortWatch activist group, said the move to Pier 69 was unnecessary and the commission was rushing to make a decision. Her group estimates that the port has spent $6.2 million between 1977 and 1985 to renovate offices at Pier 66.

Davis said those renovations were to keep Pier 66 working and the building ``is not fundamentally sound.''

Schell said the move to Pier 69 has been discussed for years. As for the commission taking a vote two working days after their public briefing, Schell said delay would cost the port money and critics will just repeat their arguments. ``We'll have the same five or six people saying the same things,'' he said.