Craig Thompson sent the following notice:
“A neighbor asked me to send this message out reminding people that there’s an informal meeting of concerned neighbors at Dr. Jose Rizal Park tonight at 6 PM to discuss the proposed move of the Juvenile Justice Center to the PacMed building.
“We’ll meet in the amphitheatre. You can also barbecue at the park….”
Curtis Bonney adds: “There’s no agenda, just a discussion.”
BHB news partners KOMO report that the proposal to move the county juvenile court and detention facility to the PacMed building may not get too far:
…Several neighbors said they had been personally contacted by King County Executive Dow Constantine earlier in the day.
“Three members of the group were contacted by the King County Executive’s Office indicating that a decision on PacMed should made by end of this coming week (Thursday or Friday),†reads the post on Facebook.
In a separate email circulating on the BAN list another neighbor writes about those phone calls:
“Earlier in the day several of us received a call from Dow Constantine’s office to inform us that the PacMed building probably won’t work for the project and we should expect a formal announcement sometime later this week.â€
The latter comment was also posted here on the Beacon Hill Blog by Hans, the organizer of Sunday’s “No Jail at PacMed” meeting. Here’s the comment in full:
“We had a very constructive meeting on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 to discuss ‘No Jail at PacMed’. Earlier in the day several of us received a call from Dow Constantine’s office to inform us that the PacMed building probably won’t work for the project and we should expect a formal announcement sometime later this week. Needless to say that would be VERY good news. However, even if the jail does not locate to the building we still intend to make every attempt to engage Wright Runstad and let them know that the North Beacon Hill is very interested in whoever they select as a tenant and we would welcome the opportunity to work with them as a neighborhood.”
Neighbor Hans writes:
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.
Neighbors have also set up a Facebook page to help organize against the Wright Runstad proposal, which would move the King County juvenile court and detention facility to the landmark PacMed building on North Beacon Hill.
The possibility that the King County Juvenile court/detention facility could move to the PacMed building on North Beacon caused a lot of conversation yesterday both here on the BHB and on other media outlets. KOMO (BHB news partner) covered the story, including quotes from neighbors Curtis Bonney and Craig Thompson.
Further coverage of the PacMed story comes from Eric Scigliano at Crosscut:
“At least one other prospect may still be in the picture: the Bellevue-based City University of Seattle, which, true to its name, has been trying to move to Seattle. ‘We have looked at their building, as well as a dozen other sites in Seattle,’ says City University spokesperson Christopher Ross. ‘We’re not far enough along in any of our negotiations to comment.'”
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.