Government building in Washington nears demolition

The Washington State Department of Enterprise Services (DES) is seeking comments from the public as its latest step to approve a demolition process for a former General Administration Building in Olympia, Washington.

The DES says a draft review has found “no significant environmental impacts” that would occur from replacing the building. The agency is leaving the comment period open through Sept. 11.

“The six-story building has been unoccupied since 2018,” DES says. “Its wiring, plumbing and structural elements no longer meet building code, and entry is hazardous to human health. Renovating the building would be more costly than replacing it.”

Regarding redevelopment plans, the building would be replaced in the short term with a restroom and a temporary parking lot for nearly 300 vehicles.

In 2023, the Washington legislature appropriated $4.3 million to plan for the structure’s demolition.

“Additional funding is needed to implement the plan, remove environmental hazards such as lead and asbestos and build a temporary surface parking lot,” DES says.

DES says the environmental review process is being conducted because the state’s Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) ensures that state and local agencies consider the environmental impacts of planned projects.

The draft environmental review, known as a SEPA checklist, identifies potential environmental impacts and strategies to offset those impacts. It is one of several documents posted to the DES website that members of the public can review before they submit comments.

The structure is 283,865 square feet and contains approximately 4,000 square feet of likely recyclable concrete paving and another 49,500 square feet of asphalt paving.

An report from the Washington State Standard website says the structure is a boxy white building that sits within a wider state capital complex in OIympia.

Writes Standard reporter Bill Lucia, “For some, [the] General Administration Building [serves] as a reminder of a bygone era of architecture and government in Olympia. For others, it’s an eyesore occupying a large city lot," Bill Lucia of the Standard writes.

Lucia reports the building was completed in 1956 in a minimalist cubical “international style” that was favored by government and institutional architects in that decade.