In a unanimous vote, the Olympia City Council approved the sale of the 10.47-acre property at 900 Plum St. SE to Island Enterprises, a wholly-owned enterprise of the Squaxin Island Tribe, for $8.2 million.
At a city council meeting on Tuesday, April 8, City Manager Jay Burney presented a resolution authorizing the sale of the city-owned property, highlighting its critical condition.
A 2019 facility conditions assessment revealed the building had reached the end of its useful life. Infrastructure repairs are estimated to cost $12.8 million, and full replacement would cost tens of millions of dollars.
He added that similar concerns around building conditions prompted the closure of the city's jail in 2023.
Built in 1966, the property served Olympia City Hall until 2011, when it was repurposed as the Lee Creighton Justice Center.
The campus has since housed critical city services, including the Olympia Municipal Court and court-related services, Yashiro Japanese Garden, Plum Street Tiny Home Village, Olympia Police Department evidence storage and a Saturday waste drop-off site.
According to Burney, the sale agreement with an 18-month no-cost leaseback to the city, allows Olympia to continue using the property while transitioning its services.
It also includes a 90-day contingency period and plans to develop a memorandum of understanding for city services.
During the transition, the city will evaluate options for relocating critical services.
Burney said the city is actively exploring options for the municipal court and related services, including relocating programs to other city-owned facilities and discussing potential court service contracts with Thurston County.
"I do want to acknowledge the impacts of these discussions on our court employees. I know it has been difficult for them as they await a decision on the future of the court and our court-related programs. I am committed to working alongside all of them to take care of all of them during the transition," the city manager said.
The city is also addressing the relocation of all current site services within the 18-month leaseback period. This includes finding a new home for the Yashiro Japanese Garden through the sister city organization, securing alternative housing for Plum Street Village residents, coordinating with Waste Resources for Saturday waste drop-off, and identifying solutions for police department evidence storage and parking needs.
Burney expressed confidence in developing a plan in place for the relocation of these programs and services.
The Squaxin Island Tribe plans to develop the site with a hotel featuring 20,000 square feet of meeting space and a landmark restaurant, addressing community needs for additional meeting and hospitality infrastructure.
Squaxin Island Tribe Chairman Kris Peters expressed excitement about the property acquisition. He emphasized the tribe's commitment to creating a mutually beneficial project.
Peters highlighted their intention to develop a site that serves both tribal and community needs, focusing on economic development, cultural engagement, and bringing tribal members close to their ancestral lands.
Peters stressed that the tribe wants to be a responsible partner, create an immersive cultural experience, and build something that benefits the broader community, not just the tribe.
A former Olympia mayor, Bob Jacobs, raised concerns about the proposed sale of Plum Street. He emphasized the property's significance as the main entrance to the city and urged the city council to consider placing restrictions on land use.
He questioned potential development scenarios, asking, "Do we want to put restrictions on the size of buildings that would go at this place?"
He also raised concerns about potential tribal developments, specifically saying, "Tribes sometimes construct and operate casinos with lots of traffic and flashy signage. Do we want to place limits on that kind of use?"
Jacobs urged the council to "consider placing deed restrictions on the Plum Street property ... in the interest of current and future Olympia residents."
Michael Cade, executive director of the Thurston Economic Development Council, spoke in support of the Squaxin Tribe's property acquisition.
Citing his previous tour of Squaxin Island Enterprises, Cade expressed confidence in the tribe's investments and business approach. He viewed the property sale as an economic development opportunity.
During the public comment segment, three municipal court judges — Pamela Nogueira, Dave Larson, and Scott Ahlf — provided testimony to the city council, sharing their perspectives on the potential dissolution of the Olympia Municipal Court.
All three judges advocated for the preservation of the Olympia Municipal Court, as they strongly cautioned against transferring court services to the county. They emphasized the potential loss of local control, specialized programs and community-specific services.
Nogueira, Olympia's municipal judge, asked the city council to carefully consider the long-term financial impacts of terminating the city's court. She emphasized that the municipal court's budget represents less than 3% of the city's total budget and warned that ending the court would result in losing local control over budgetary decisions.
Nogueira enumerated the court's services that the community would lose, including five-day-a-week operations, customer service, pretrial and post-conviction services, which she said was something that it is not offered elsewhere and cannot be operated without a court, and a recently relaunched full treatment court.
Drawing from his experience, Judge Larson of Federal Way Municipal Court, warned about the pattern of cities considering municipal court dissolution and emphasized the importance of municipal courts as the most direct branch of local government serving the people.
In 2009, Federal Way was considering a similar court system transition. Larson said he observed a recurring pattern where cities initially consider dissolving their municipal courts, but upon deeper investigation, often realize it's better to maintain their local court system.
He noted that once cities delve into the complexities of court operations, they typically conclude that keeping their municipal court is more advantageous than transferring to a district court.
Larson offered assistance in navigating potential court system changes. He urged the city council "to keep the process transparent, maintain an open mind, and listen to voices with direct experience in similar transitions."
A former Olympia Municipal Court judge for 19 years, Ahlf highlighted the court's achievements like becoming a mentor for community court programs nationwide.
He stressed that municipal courts provide cities the ability to create specialized community-focused judicial services that district courts cannot.
"(District courts) do not give you the ability to be flexible, the ability to be creative, the things that you want to be able to do with your city," he said.
12 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
MrCommonSense
This is a very prime piece of real estate which would have been ideal for a new Thurston County courthouse. With it being sold, it does provide the opportunity to have private (tribal) investment in the city which will provide another economic engine for downtown. Good design (not like the city hall) will be a welcome addition. The big question is what will the City of Olympia do with $8.2 million dollars? Maybe invest it? And use the return on the investment as an ongoing revenue source for something important? But I doubt the City Council has the foresight for anything so long term. I'm afraid it's going to be a "spend it now" proposition. Hope not.
Wednesday, April 9 Report this
PamelaJHanson
There isn't the best customer base for any hotel in Olympia. Tumwater and hotels everywhere are failing. Even tourism rich Juneau, AK has had hotel closures and the locals are pushing away tourism. Zoom is less expensive and supporting our local communities is smarter and more cost effective - because most hotels are just rooms with a bathroom for less than 24 hours at a premium price for a really clean room. I wish them luck. I worked two front desks, one as a night auditor and one as night manager within two hotels in Alaska for the most part because of Gov. Gregoirre's over 10 percent unemployment rate. You gotta take what you can get sometimes. And, you gotta put your foot down and hold on to your ethics when working at a hotel. (Both AK hotels got in trouble, one hotel with CCFR (fire & rescue) and one hotel with JPD Chief Browning. Both hit the newspaper big time. And, YIPEE, I finally made it home and I made it home alive.) Good luck with owning a hotel in Olympia? They're going to need it! I'm going to miss the court building and the garden. I ran the metal detector for that court back before Alaska, for lunches and breaks, when I had my vehicle licensed security route with PCS. Please be safe and be well court employees and judges. I would have stopped anyone back then, but back then everyone was polite and not on fentanyl.
Wednesday, April 9 Report this
Southsoundguy
The Trading Post hotel.
Thursday, April 10 Report this
Snevets
..He emphasized the property's significance as the main entrance to the city and urged the city council to consider placing restrictions on land use.
I'm originally from the Midwest and the tribal installations and their thoughtful use of land have been exceptional! From their community centers to their cassinos.
Mr. Jacobs how about that outrageous eyesore of the Olympia brewery, the bridge leading onto Capitol South & the totems...
@southsoundguy take your derogatory remarks elsewhere.
Thursday, April 10 Report this
jwiley
I worked for the City Parks back in the day, and that piece of property was wet. I know Moxlie Creek runs in a really old culvert under Plum Street, and has it's own particular life span, and I wonder when the last time a check for leaks has been done in that culvert. Multiple attempts to daylight Moxlie Creek have been made, but the infrastructure cost was prohibitive. I wish the Squaxin Tribe Good luck with their venture.
Thursday, April 10 Report this
Boatyarddog
@SSguy... wondering if you have any ability to comment respectably... or Do you have a defective intellect. Just saying we that comment on these pieces know your lack of insight. Truly Low brow intellect.
Thursday, April 10 Report this
OvercastDays
It is cool to see a partnership between the city and the tribe, but boy oh boy there’s a lot to unpack here. For one thing, it’s a lot of stuff for the city to give up. And I don’t even (necessarily?) mind that they’re selling the land for less than half of the assessed value. What is concerning is the idea of selling off land with a bunch of basic functional services housed on it, with no clear plan for how they will be replaced. And no, Jay Burney, the fact that you are ‘confident’ everything will work out doesn’t help matters much. The city’s tiny home village being moved for the second time in a span of five years really shows you how much it is being prioritized. And also what’s going on with the stuff about ‘finding a new home’ for the Yashiro Japanese garden? The garden is based on the place it is, it’s not just an idea floating in space. The city could partner with their sister city to build a new Japanese garden, but even if they feel like meticulously recreating it somewhere else—which they probably don’t— it wouldn’t be the same garden. It would be a different garden with the same name as the old one. Aside from that, the Saturday glass recycling drop off site can probably be easily moved, but I don’t know what’s going on with the courts situation. Regardless, I’m interested to see what the hotel design looks like, and hopefully it uses the 10.47 acres well. Just seems a little slapdash, but maybe it’s been in the works a while.
Thursday, April 10 Report this
Southsoundguy
Boatyard, well seeing as you and deanima frequently attack me personally, I could turn that question back at you. I make fun of stupid policies and express my core position which is that zoning should be abolished and democratic control over land leads to systemic abuse thereof. You guys screech about liberal nonsense and I have not seen anything insightful, so I call it like I see. Liberalism is a self-terminating ideology.
Thursday, April 10 Report this
Dogmom
I am curious to know if the Squaxin Tribe will be paying taxes, including property taxes. We know that former Governor Christine Gregoire, in order to get more support from all tribes in Washington State and votes decided that even property that is not on tribal property does not have to pay taxes. Correct me if I am wrong.
Friday, April 11 Report this
DaveinOlyWA
I will have to go against the tide here and say that this will likely be a huge benefit to the area. The MONSTER success of Lacey's RAC has greatly increased demand for hotel rooms in the region which is THE reason so many have popped up but there isn't enough which means spill over to Pierce County.
So more hotels? Especially in an area large enough to develop an atmosphere I think will be a huge success.
As far as the casino comment? Pretty sure that is only allowed on tribal land and not sure if this would qualify as such despite them being the landowner.
Friday, April 11 Report this
ejpoleii
This article had a lot more information than the previous one. The critical piece is that the building is past its useful life. While the parcel value reflects a much larger value, it probably includes a value for the building which, I assume, will have to be demolished. That value plus the demolition costs, affect the sale value of the parcel. As for what is built there, I'm interested to see what the tribe comes up with.
Sunday, April 13 Report this
Hill_Folk
Wild that Bob Jacobs wants covenant restrictions on the property instead of thoughtful, city-wide ordinances.
As if Washington hasn't already had a long history of using covenant restrictions to racially discriminate.
Well, add another instance to the pile.
Tuesday, April 22 Report this