November 30, 2006
No ivory tower: Planners seek UW occupants for newly acquired properties
In a reversal of the ivory tower idea, the UW is moving toward the community as it makes plans to occupy the tower that Safeco built. Provost Phyllis Wise has sent out a call for proposals to anyone interested in what is now called the UW Tower properties.
The properties, which actually include six buildings, two parking garages and two surface lots — not to mention what is now the International House of Pancakes restaurant — are all located within a few blocks of campus. The most visible portion — the former Safeco Tower — is on the corner of Brooklyn Avenue Northeast and Northeast 45th Street.
In her call for proposals, Provost Wise called the properties an “exciting opportunity.” She outlined nine questions that units interested in the space should answer in their proposals, including how much space they would need, how they would use it and what functional advantages it would have for them. (See http://www.washington.edu/admin/pb/UW-Tower/UWTowerProvostCall.pdf for details.)
The provost has appointed a UW Tower Planning Advisory Committee, to be chaired by Marilyn Cox, assistant vice provost for capital planning. The committee will receive and review the proposals, which must be submitted by Jan. 31, 2007. It will send its recommendations to the executive committee, made up of President Mark Emmert, Provost Wise and Executive Vice President Weldon Ihrig. Final decisions will be made by Wise.
The properties include about 500,000 square feet of available space. Of that, about 300,000 square feet is targeted for lease consolidation, Cox said. The University is currently leasing about 1.2 million square feet in the Seattle area, scattered among a number of properties. Although some of the units in leased space are where they need to be and have no interest in moving, the University would like to bring together as many of the others as possible.
About 30,000 to 40,000 square feet of the space in the new properties is already spoken for. Cox said that a new UW data center will be located there, as will a new emergency operations center. “Those two things are going through the detailed planning and design phase right now,” she said. “They’ll rely on the existing building infrastructure to some degree, because Safeco did have a data center in the building, but it was built 30 years ago. So the immediate equipment for the center will be new, but some of the power capability that enabled their data center will also enable our data center.”
Similarly, units that occupy UW Tower properties will be moving in with only minor modifications. “One of the key things that people need to understand about the property is it’s much more typical of the corporate world,” Cox said. “It is an open floor plan environment, designed for cubicles, even on the top levels, and we don’t intend to change that.”
Making major changes would trigger some very expensive building code requirements, she explained — requirements such as new ventilation systems, sprinklers and alarm systems. Mindful of the costs, the University plans no major renovations. In fact, some of the plans for the properties are dependent on a $10 million funding proposal that the University will bring to the Legislature in the upcoming session. The more fully the Legislature funds the project, the more chance there is that centrally-funded programs can occupy the space rather than self-sustaining programs.
The outcome of that proposal probably won’t be known until March or April, Cox said, after which the planning advisory committee will move in earnest to formulate occupancy plans. Final assignments will probably be made in July of 2007. Safeco moves out of the properties at the end of 2007, and new tenants can begin moving in early in 2008.
“From our planner perspective of life, just knowing what all goes into the analysis and decision making, it’s a very aggressive schedule,” Cox said. “If you think about it, it’s a little like designing a new building, in terms of who the occupants will be, what the adjacencies need to be, what minor improvements people need to make for the building work for them, and so on. And the properties in total contain about the same gross square footage as all of the buildings on the quad combined.”
Cox said the properties would probably be occupied mainly by office functions, although the kind of research using computers rather than wet labs might find a home there. One building, called the Collegiana, consists of 29 residential units and may be used, at least in the short term, by either the UW Medical Center for patient family stays or by Housing and Food Services for overflow dorm space.
The properties also include a 200-seat auditorium and a cafeteria, but Cox said the latter would probably be either greatly reduced or closed. “One of the things we want to do is really strengthen our town/gown relationship and partnership with the surrounding community,” she said. “While Safeco occupies the building, my understanding is many of their employees don’t venture far from the building. They come and park in the parking garage, walk across a skybridge into the building and they eat in the building. So it doesn’t create a lot of customer base for eateries in the neighborhood. I think the U District perception and the University’s hope is that having the UW there will really enliven the area. We’re hoping to drive people into the streets to try the teriyaki chicken bowl.”
They aren’t likely to be eating at the International House of Pancakes, however. Cox said the restaurant’s lease is up in May of 2007, and the management has indicated they may not remain in that location.
Along with considering who will occupy the new properties, Cox and the committee will also be considering what to do with any space vacated by units moving out of the campus proper. In fact, one of the major reasons for acquiring the property is that by moving administrative offices into the new properties, more space will be created on campus for core teaching and research functions.
Cox has been making presentations about the UW Towers properties to many groups on campus, and is willing to do others. The Office of Planning and Budgeting has created a Web page with comprehensive information about the properties at http://www.washington.edu/admin/pb/UW-Tower/index.htm. They plan to update that regularly to keep the campus community informed.
“This is unlike anything we’ve done before,” Cox said. “We’ve bought privately owned buildings, but nothing of this scale. This is the kind of opportunity that comes along once in a lifetime.”
Members of the planning advisory committee are:
- Marilyn Cox, assistant vice provost for capital planning, chair
- John Coulter, executive director, Health Sciences Administration
- Ashley Emery, chair, Faculty Senate Advisory Committee on Planning and Budgeting
- Daniel Friedman, dean, college of Architecture and Urban Planning
- Eric Godfrey, vice provost for student life
- Richard Karpen, divisional dean for research and infrastructure, College of Arts & Sciences
- Charles Kennedy, associate vice president for facilities services
- Mary Lidstrom, vice provost for research
- Gary Quarforth, interim vice provost for planning and budgeting
- John Seidelmann, senior facilities planner, Office of Planning and Budgeting
- Cullen White, ASUW president
- GPSS representative to be named
