CITY OF KENMORE 6700 NE 181st Street Kenmore, WA 82607

City of Kenmore Purchases Property for New City Hall

Kenmore , Wash. – At its February 26 th meeting, the Kenmore City Council authorized the city manager to negotiate and execute a purchase and sale agreement to acquire a site for City Hall. The City Council intends to purchase a 1.62 acre site located at 18120 68 th Ave NE, currently owned as surplus property by the Northshore Utility District, for the appraised value of $3.1 million. The City and Northshore Utility District will work cooperatively in the next 90 days to complete due diligence on the site and, with successful completion, close on the site 30 days later.

“This is an exciting time for the City with the purchase of a site for City Hall. It’s a great location with the downtown development right next to the site,” Councilmember Bob Hensel said.

Councilmember Laurie Sperry commented “Building a City Hall on this site adds to the momentum being generated by the Kenmore Village by the lake project. It is another step in creating a vibrant downtown core in Kenmore.”

At their February 2006 retreat, Council directed staff to identify a site for a permanent City Hall to replace the current interim City Hall. Using criteria developed by the Planning Commission for the Downtown Plan and then refined for this process by the Council. Mr. Rob Larson of ClearPath was engaged to identify potential sites. Mr. Larson generated a list of 20 options, which Council then reviewed and discussed over the course of a year before concluding that the Utility District property met the criteria and the future needs of the City.

“Council consensus was to look outside of the downtown development for a site. We studied several locations in depth and I am excited that Council consensus was to move forward on the purchase of the property,” Mayor Randy Eastwood said.

The City will begin the selection process for an architect to design the City Hall facility. Once selected, the design and permit process is estimated to take approximately nine to 12 months before construction could commence, with a projected move-in date of June 2009. The site has a current tenant, Full Maintenance Landscaping, which has an existing lease with Northshore Utility District.

For more information contact the City of Kenmore at 425-398-8900.

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