The Metropolitan King County Council’s Budget and Fiscal Management Committee today approved, and sent to the full council, a recommendation to build a new King County Office Building on the site of the county garage adjacent to the King County Courthouse.

“Over the long term, it’s simply more cost-effective to own rather than to lease office space. It’s the difference between renting a home and owning one,” said Council Budget Chair Larry Gossett. “Just to continue leasing 271,000 square feet of office space will cost us more than $4.8 million a year by 2007. By building our own space we will break even on the cash flow after about four years, and thereafter we will be saving money we would have paid out for rent.”

“It’s much better to be the landlord than have to answer to one,” said Larry Phillips, Chair of the Metropolitan King County Council. “Rent goes up every year, but a mortgage does not. In 28 years when we finish paying off the mortgage, we will have saved $16.1 million in today’s dollars. The taxpayer money we save can go directly into providing county services rather than rising rents. It’s also easier for citizens to access their government services when they are centrally located in one place, rather than scattered throughout downtown office towers.”

The new office building would house county employees working for Public Health, the Prosecuting Attorney, Public Defense, Community and Human Services, Finance, Information and Technology Services, and the county print shop. Those employees and agencies are currently spread out among seven downtown buildings that include the Exchange Building, Key Tower, the Bank of California Building, the Wells Fargo Building, the Greybar Building, the Walthew Building, and 1916 Boren. The new facility would be a so-called “green” building employing many recycled materials, as is the county’s King Street Center building. It would also create savings through construction of a central hot water system that would also serve the Courthouse, Administration Building, and County Jail.

Selection of the County’s Automotive Center as the proposed site for the approximately $85 million project will allow for completion of preliminary design and engineering necessary to apply for a master use permit. As part of the project the county will build a larger county parking garage that is up to current seismic building codes with 975 spaces, 250 more than now.

“The construction of an expanded parking garage represents another opportunity to generate revenue,” said Gossett. “King County’s health and human service programs now receive 44 percent of the parking revenue generated by the garage. A larger facility means more parking spaces and increased funding for these vital services.”

Read more about this legislation on the King County Council’s LEGISEARCH system and type in “2004-0126”