Juvenile court and jail could move to PacMed

The landmark PacMed building dominates the northern tip of Beacon Hill. Photo by Wendi.
The Seattle Times (BHB news partner) reports that King County’s juvenile court and jail could move into the historic PacMed building on the north tip of Beacon Hill under a proposal from the current leaseholders, development company Wright Runstad.

Wright Runstad were granted a 99-year lease on the PacMed property in 1998, and then converted the hospital to office space which it then subleased to Amazon. However, Amazon recently vacated the building for a new base in the South Lake Union neighborhood, and the Times writes that this has put Wright Runstad “in a financial bind,” owing more than $300,000 per month in lease and loan payments.

The Wright Runstad proposal is one of six proposals for the future of the county’s Youth Services Center and Youth Detention Center, and the only one that calls for moving the facility from its current location. County officials won’t comment on its viability, but according to the Times, it is “the leading proposal” among the six.

The Youth Services Center and Detention Center is currently located in the Central District at 12th Avenue and East Alder Street, and is in need of renovation; last summer, PCB contamination was found in the courthouse, and the building has had problems with plumbing issues, mold, and deteriorating infrastructure for some time.

20 thoughts on “Juvenile court and jail could move to PacMed”

  1. Why is this the ‘Leading proposal among the six’? This is also the only proposal that calls for the detention center to change its location.

    This is well worth writing your king county councilmember over. To contact Larry Gossett, you can click here.

    http://larrygossett.com/contact.php

    For Dow Constantine’s office, you can click here.
    http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/constantine/contact.aspx

    Dow used to care for South Seattle, so it will be interesting to see where he comes down on this.

  2. I think this is a bad idea. Having worked in PacMed, the facility is not adequate for this purpose and the city needs to complete a neighborhood impact assessment before moving forward.

  3. A jail with that many windows? Lol This probably will include the construction of a low-rise jail on the north side of the building.

    How is the County going to afford market rent for that building?

  4. How do we stop this from happening? I haven’t been involved in local politics before so not sure what the steps are, but I definitely want to be involved in making sure this doesn’t happen since I love across the street.

  5. This concerns me a lot. We live directly across the street and our property values are deep under water as it is. Does anyone have any idea how, when and where we can get involved in fighting it?

  6. Not cool. Living two blocks away, I have the same concerns about property value. We may be in for a fight.

  7. Why does this facility even have to be in Seattle? It’s the King County juvenile facility. The last I checked, King County covers a lot of ground. Besides, does the City of Seattle want people from out of town asking what that nice Art Deco building is up on the hill and telling them it’s a jail?

  8. My wife and I just purchased a home two blocks from the PAC-MED building. Needless to say we’re VERY concerned and angry over this and are ready to fight hard. This neighborhood will take a serious dive if that building becomes a jail.

    Numerous people have asked how to organize. I’d like to start a contact list and will get in touch if you send me an email.

    Hans
    hannordlund@gmail.com

  9. Hi!

    I suggest that some of you folks right near the site host a meeting pronto and make some phone calls to find a land use lawyer. We should put together a legal defense fund for this one. Once this gets rezoned as a jail it could be an adult jail facility in the future. Don’t forget the City wants more jail space too!

    Very inappropriate siting, inappropriate use of a historic building (someone should call the design commission pronto too), very inappropriate use so close to schools in a low-income minority neighborhood. Also, that north-south corridor is too narrow for the kind of traffic congestion this will entail. Will reduce emergency vehicle access to and from the hill. Can you imagine what 12th and Jackson will turn into with a major jail facility there?

    Condos, condos, condos. That building would be so cool to live in.

    E-mail the Mayor pronto and City Council. Sounds like it will take rezoning and certainly permitting too. But plan on hiring an attorney or two.

    Yes,it will take us down the tubes as far as property values go but more importantly is the wrong facility for our residential community. It should go in a more industrial or commercial setting, or at a minimum a hub urban village not a small residential urban village like ours. Where is City planning when we need it?

    I am in and out this summer. Would be happy to meet with neighbors and I will contribute to a legal defense fund. Writing Council this weekend.

    Frederica Merrell
    323-1792
    Active in neighborhood planning on the hill

  10. Hi!

    I suggest that some of you folks right near the site host a meeting pronto and make some phone calls to find a land use lawyer. We should put together a legal defense fund for this one. Once this gets rezoned as a jail it could be an adult jail facility in the future. Don’t forget the City wants more jail space too!

    Very inappropriate siting, inappropriate use of a historic building (someone should call the design commission pronto too), very inappropriate use so close to schools in a low-income minority neighborhood. Also, that north-south corridor is too narrow for the kind of traffic congestion this will entail. Will reduce emergency vehicle access to and from the hill. Can you imagine what 12th and Jackson will turn into with a major jail facility there?

    Condos, condos, condos. That building would be so cool to live in.

    E-mail the Mayor pronto and City Council. Sounds like it will take rezoning and certainly permitting too. But plan on hiring an attorney or two.

    Yes,it will take us down the tubes as far as property values go but more importantly is the wrong facility for our residential community. It should go in a more industrial or commercial setting, or at a minimum a hub urban village not a small residential urban village like ours. Where is City planning when we need it?

    I am in and out this summer. Would be happy to meet with neighbors and I will contribute to a legal defense fund. Writing Council this weekend.

    Frederica Merrell
    frmerrel@seattleschools.org
    Active in neighborhood planning on the hill

  11. Wow. I have to say I am very disappointed by all the ‘neighborly’ reactions here. NIMBYism at its worst.

    I used to live across the street from the 12th Ave facility (and wish I still did – but houses are too expensive in that area for me even now). Never did I experience or hear of a single problem related to that facility in the years I was there. I used to think it must be terrible for young people to be kept in a place with such tiny windows. They need to see the world around them. Otherwise how will they be able to see themselves in it?

    The purpose of the facility is to rehabilitate juvenile offenders, hold youth accountable and protect public safety. Has anyone taken the time to find out what services the County provides juvenile offenders? http://www.kingcounty.gov/courts/JuvenileCourt/offenders.aspx Check out the Juvenile Justice Resource Booklet there, among other things.

    Before using your privilege to mount knee-jerk reactions to this proposal, do some research and find out what this facility does, who it serves, and what its tenure in the current location has been like. Do you think troubled youth should be shunted off to the far reaches of the county where you don’t have to think about their problems or share in our community’s responsibility to deal with crime in a just and humane way?

    Think about how NIMBYism up North has affected South Seattle for so long. Do you really want to recreate that here in Beacon Hill? Eliminate all the ‘unsavory’ elements so the bargain home you just bought will be in the next hot Seattle neighborhood? I really hoped this would be a truly community-minded neighborhood – and not just for the community that wants nice shops, restaurants, increasing home values, and people just like them as neighbors.

    I’m sure I’m not winning anyone over to my point of view here, but I am truly disappointed and hope that some of you will at least think more about the issues before proceeding with your fight.

  12. As a homeowner in North Beacon Hill I have a vested interest in the viability of our community. I am very concerned about the developing idea of PacMed becoming a detention center and jail for juveniles. I spoke with a source on this issue and it sounds as if its still in its infancy stages but heading to a more formal proposal. This means we as a community need to unite and create a movement against this issue. This can seem to be a daunting task. For us to be successful in fighting the powerholders three things need to occur: (1) alert the community, (2) educate on the issue, and (3) mobilize the community.

    I am interested in getting a group of people to strategize a course of action. Time is of the essence and so we need to meet soon! Please email me if you are interested in taking part in this meeting:

    Vong Ratts

    vongratts@gmail.com

  13. Sparky, I really dislike NIMBYism as well. But I dislike this proposal just as much.

    The problem for me isn’t the potential of juvie coming to Beacon Hill, it’s the wasted opportunity for a landmark building that could be the home to businesses or condos that bring economic benefit to the community. If there was a proposal to put juvie somewhere else on Beacon Hill I’d certainly consider it on its own merits.

    What’s disheartening about a lot of NIMBY is that it comes from a point of view of fighting and resistance. Building and cooperation is secondary at best, and often overlooked completely.

    No matter what people may think of the terms of Wright Runstad’s 99-year lease (I think it was a cozy bit of corruption myself), or their business sense in signing it, they do have a genuine problem on their hands. The business environment flat out sucks, and the residential real estate market is worse. No wonder they are looking to government tenants. Helping them solve this mess creatively in a way that helps the neighborhood would achieve two goals at once.

    Unfortunately I don’t have any great ideas. With all the brand new office space in South Lake Union and the chance to be near other tech companies, it’s unlikely anyone like Amazon would be interested in the building. And Amazon hardly interacted with the neighborhood — it would be nice to see something in there that wasn’t so self-contained. Someday the Rizal Bridge is going to need to be replaced, and when it is I’d love to see Beacon Hill get its streetcar back as a spur line from the 12th Avenue line that’s coming — that might be the sort of thing that makes the space more attractive for businesses, condos or both, but I have no idea how long that fantasy might take to become reality.

  14. For anyone who supports “No Jail at PacMed” we’ve organized a neighborhood discussion that’ll take place at my home on Sunday at 4:00. Several people with postings on this blog plan to attend. I live 2 blocks south of the building, on 14th Ave S. If you would like to attend, please send me an email and I’ll provide the address.

    Hans
    hannordlund@gmail.com

  15. Sparky,

    I think this is more NAOIMBY (Not Another One in My Back Yard). The south end already hosts it’s fair share of a variety of social service facilities including methadone clinics, a sex offender facility, alcohol rehab facility, etc. Many of us live near drug houses and gang activity. If you look up on the web where registered sex offenders live, many are in the south end including Beacon Hill. Take a look, there are at least three living within a few blocks of Beacon Hill International School.

    People aren’t NIMBY’s just because they have a concern for the safety of their families and their homes. And they are not NIMBY’s because they don’t welcome every single one of these facilities in their neighborhood with open arms. Neighborhoods in the south end were an easier place for local government to locate them here because people have not organized and spoken up in the past. It allows other parts of the city to not deal with any of societies problems. That’s not really healthy either.

    Mira

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