King County Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer paid tribute to the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center and the significant role it plays in the Puget Sound region during the monthly Federal Way Chamber of Commerce membership luncheon.

Von Reichbauer thanked the Weyerhaeuser Corporation and George Weyerhaeuser for their generous donation of the land and recognized David Sabey, who served as developer of the project.

“If it weren’t for George and David’s vision and their dedication to seeing this building constructed on budget and ahead of schedule, we would not have a thriving aquatic center right here in Federal Way,” von Reichbauer said.

The Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center (WKCAC) was constructed as the legacy venue of the 1990 Seattle Goodwill Games. Throughout its 20 years in operation, WKCAC has had more than 10.3 million visitors, hosted 1383 events and taught more than 671,490 swimming lessons to those in the South King County community.

“The aquatic center’s statistics are incredible, but even these numbers do not reflect the personal impact this center has made on thousands of individuals in our community,” said von Reichbauer. “Countless children have learned the valuable lesson of discipline through sports training and have worked hard to achieve their goals by using this facility.”

This summer, WKCAC held the U.S. Olympic Dive Trials, which resulted in more than $2 million of direct spending by event spectators — including the nearly 4,000 non-local visitors. A recent economic study conducted for King County estimated that the more than 50 events hosted by WKCAC have a financial impact in excess of $7.5 million on the region.

Von Reichbauer also honored the director and employees of the King County Aquatic Center for their dedication to ensuring that the center is a welcoming, efficiently-run organization.

“I applaud the tireless effort and commitment of the employees. It is their hard work that makes our aquatic center a success,” von Reichbauer said.