Like many of you, I was startled when I first read that Weyerhaeuser would be leaving Federal Way in 2016 after what will have been 45 years in the city. After the initial shock and sense of loss comes the question: “What’s next?”
One idea floated has been to use the Weyerhaeuser property as the site for a future university branch campus. While I support the idea, we should assess what might be its projected footprint. Currently, there are two branch campuses in the Puget Sound region, UW Tacoma and UW Bothell.
The Tacoma and Bothell campuses sit on 46 and 70 acres, respectively, while both offering more than 30 undergraduate degree programs and several graduate programs. Meaning that even if we were successful in luring a branch here, more than 350 acres of the 430-acre Weyerhaeuser property would remain for economic development.
Given that Federal Way is already replete with large tracts of single-family homes, building more doesn’t appear very logical for meeting the city’s means.
Building more retail space wouldn’t seem to make sense given that the Weyerhaeuser area sits between the Commons Mall area and the Auburn SuperMall.
A popular idea in some quarters is building more office space on the property. In response, I must note that a glut of office space already exists in Federal Way and South King County, more broadly.
A 2014 analysis found that South King County had the largest vacancy rates for total office spaces of five large markets carved from King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties. Also, Federal Way had the third highest vacancy rate overall out of 38 subareas within those three counties, behind only the Kent Valley and Puyallup. Suffice to say, Federal Way doesn’t need more office space.
In speaking to members of the Blue Ribbon Panel which analyzed the viability of a Performing Arts and Events Center, one thorny revelation they came to was that Federal Way’s job market is dominated by low-wage retail and office industries. While they ultimately endorsed the plan, a concern remains that too many workers in Federal Way are struggling to get by.
In the 1980’s, the Port of Tacoma used its land that now, and especially then, was far off the beaten track in Frederickson to develop an industrial center. Today, its 10 largest employers, including Boeing, employ 3,000 workers on only 420 acres. These aren’t jobs that you struggle to pay your rent on, but ones you can pay your mortgage with. The Port of Tacoma took its time and found tenants that met their vision.
Federal Way, which currently has no zoning for manufacturing, has an opportunity with the Weyerhaeuser area – perhaps alongside a new branch university – to both diversity our job sector and create family-wage jobs. If it can be done in Frederickson, with our strategic position along I-5 and between both the ports of Tacoma and Seattle, it can be done in Federal Way.
Richard Champion, Federal Way
