GRC to build new center for aviation and other programs near Lowe’s

Published 2:31 pm Wednesday, May 13, 2015

The flight itinerary calls for Green River College’s aviation program to take wing next summer from the Lea Hill campus and alight in the valley below.

That is, the college plans to move its aviation program and some smaller programs by the fall of 2016 into a new, three-story, 30,000-square-foot building, east of Lowe’s at 1232 A St. NE, south of the Auburn Municipal Airport.

“This is going to be an integral part of downtown Auburn,” Eileen Ely, president of Green River College, told members of the City Council during a study session Monday evening at City Hall.

The college has planned for several years to move its growing aviation program closer to the airport, and to relocate other operations now in its satellite at the Sound Transit Station into a college-owned building.

“We are cramped for space on the main campus,” Ely said, “so this will relieve a little of the pressure we are dealing with. Another of our goals is to expand our aviation program, so this will allow us room for expansion.”

College officials learned last year from Doug Lein, the City of Auburn’s economic development director, that Latitude Development LLC, a joint-venture company between Dave Kessler and the principals of Donovan Brothers Construction, was about to acquire land west of the D Street Valley Regional Fire Authority station and build there a 270-stall parking lot, complete with underground utilities.

Latitude would then sell the improved site, pad-ready for construction.

“When we took a look at it, this became a project that was ideal for us in many ways,” said Sam Ball, director of capital projects for GRC.

Ideal, Ball said, because the college has always struggled to provide enough parking on its Lea Hill campus, and the lot, north of the future aviation building, calls for more parking stalls than even Auburn’s building codes demand.

Ball had this to say about the building’s appearance.

“We don’t want all of our new buildings to look alike, but we want them to complement one another, so there’s a sort of continuity of look and feel, and we attempted to do the same for this building here,” Ball said.

The third floor of the 40-foot-high building will be wholly given over to the aviation program, which provides training for air-traffic controllers and air dispatchers, and training for pilots of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Ball said the college doesn’t have the funds to put up a building big enough to house the program’s five flight simulators, so it expects to rent space close to the new building to house the big machines.

“To be comfortable, we would need about 2,500 square feet,” Ball said of the college’s rental needs. “That would allow for a small meeting room as well as the simulators.”

“We’re also looking for a space that has a sturdy foundation base; it has to be solid to hold those simulators,” Ely added.

“They’re fairly heavy, and almost all of them move, so they really need to be on concrete,” Ball said.

On the second floor, Ball continued, will be the college’s adult basic education and general education classrooms, student affairs, student services, and the Small Business Assistance Center.

On the first floor the college will settle most of the businesses operating at the Sound Transit Station: the Washington Environmental Training Center, which trains water and wastewater technicians and operators; Washington Certification Services; and Assembly Backflow Testers.

Latitude should complete its project by July 1.

The center itself will cost about $10 million to construct, but the total project, including land acquisition of the improved site, will be slightly more than $20 million.

“We will close on the property when it’s finished, and we intend to start construction in July,” Ball said. “The schedule will take us out to be completed in June of 2016, and we plan to be fully operating by the fall quarter of 2016.”

Ball said the Federal Aviation Administration has reviewed the building project and found no issues with the building, which is separated from the airport by 15th Street Northeast.

“I, for one, am glad to see an aviation program near an airport,” said Councilman John Holman.