Port weighs state funding for steam plant project
Request could contribute $10 million to renovations of old WSU steam plant
The Port of Whitman County is considering asking the Washington Legislature to help fund its renovation of a decommissioned steam plant on the edge of Washington State University’s campus.
In a meeting of the port’s board of commissioners Thursday, members explored the potential legislative ask.
“We have filled out their Senate form for an ask that can accompany our work here,” Commissioner Karl Webber said. “The next question would be, if senators are comfortable with it, what members would be in our best interest to be approaching or who we could educate that might help in our work?”
While the project is estimated to cost more than $30 million in total, the port believes the legislature could be a potential funding source for nearly $10 million which would help cover costs associated with environmental cleanup and demolition of the building’s interior.
The port considers grants, tax credits and port coffers to be a viable source of funding for the actual renovation of the property, which is projected to cost about $21 million.
A flyer for the project, included in the meeting agenda, detailed how the 94-year-old steam plant would be transformed into a center providing as much as 20,000 square feet of office space for Whitman County businesses.
“(The flyer) is ready to go for our strategies on funding,” Webber said.
Webber said he’d like to run the project by District 9 Sen. Mark Schoesler to figure out the best way to move forward.
At a meeting last August, port Chief Operating Officer Kara Riebold shared that the port received a $200,000 grant in May from the Washington Department of Ecology to fund a feasibility study on the steam plant.
Possible uses of the space, noted in the port’s application to the department, include a ground-floor restaurant which would collaborate with WSU’s School of Food Science and two mezzanine floors equipped with office and laboratory space where researchers and graduate students could work.
The project anticipates cleanup activities, renovation design and engineering to all start in 2022. Renovation of the building is planned to begin in 2023 with completion the following year.
Palermo can be reached at apalermo@dnews.com or on Twitter @apalermotweets.
