New Thurston County Sheriff's Office headquarters opens in Tumwater

The Thurston County Sheriff's Office has a new place to call home.

County officials announced the opening of the new sheriff's office headquarters at an unveiling of the roughly $20 million project on Friday, July 31.

The headquarters, which is located at 1111 Israel Road SW in Tumwater, came in about two weeks ahead of schedule and on budget. 

The new headquarters marks a big milestone for the sheriff's office, as it reunites administration, evidence processing teams, finance, investigations and patrol under the same roof.

Officials and project leaders chose “adaptive reuse” over a costly new build by remodeling the interior of an existing, well-maintained, LEED certified building purchased from the state of Washington, said the county in an announcement on July 31.

The approach allowed the county to secure a long term asset for the community for approximately $20 million. Remaining projects funds were used to buy an additional impound lot facility at 7721 New Market Street SW in Tumwater.

The new headquarters has many features, including perimeter cameras, fenced-in parking for the patrol fleet and staff, areas for tactical training, as well as an incident response communications room.

Thurston County Capital Project Manager Tony Schall was pleased with the way the project turned out.

“When I stepped into this project, I understood the operational needs of the (sheriff’s office) which helped, and our project team understood that the real mission is to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars: Bids were competitive, decisions were made within a few days, the team stayed flexible and collaborative," said Schall in a statement included in the announcement.

"That’s how we brought this in on time and under budget — wish lists never became demands — the attitude was always one of public service and the focus was always on the community."

This is the fourth capital project to be completed on time and in line with budget targets since the Ballot Processing Center in Tumwater.

“The (county) is seeing big wins in big capital infrastructure development thanks to the dedicated public servants who fill the ranks of (county) staff,” said Tye Menser, Chair of the Thurston County Board of County Commissioners, in a statement included in the announcement.

“Staff know the business of the (county) and the people in our community. They are experts taking a practical community-first approach. It’s tremendously helpful to the (board) knowing we can rely on the project team to responsibly steward public funds and partner with us to secure a sound fiscal future.”