WSU pulls out of plans to renovate steam plant

Washington State University has withdrawn support for the Port of Whitman County’s plans to turn a decommissioned steam plant on the edge of WSU’s Pullman campus into a business technology center.

Despite the university penning at least two letters of approval in the past, WSU President Kirk Schulz stated the project is “not appropriate to move forward” in an email to the port Tuesday informing commissioners of the decision.

At the port’s regular commission meeting Thursday, officials expressed disappointment and considered taking legal action against WSU.

“They have slipped backward in so many ways without any explanation in this letter to satisfy myself,” Commissioner Tom Kammerzell said. “It looks to me like they’re turning their backs on the port, the environmental cleanup and the community.”

Planning for the project began in October 2020. According to the port, the university provided a letter of support to apply for a $200,000 grant from the Washington Department of Ecology to examine cleaning up the site, which has already been used.

Another $50,000 grant from the department to fund a feasibility study on the plant was set to be awarded Thursday.

Kammerzell said the port has never asked WSU for any money to fund the proposal.

“I would hope that WSU has now found the funds to go ahead and clean this site up themselves because I can’t imagine turning down money and help for an environmentally impacted site,” he said. “I’m concerned about the path forward.”

The commissioners hoped to transform the 94-year-old steam plant into a center with as much as 20,000 square feet of office space for Whitman County businesses.

While the project was estimated to cost more than $30 million in total, the port believed the legislature could be a potential funding source for nearly $10 million to cover costs associated with environmental cleanup and demolishing the building’s interior.

The port considered grants, tax credits and port coffers to be a viable source of funding for the actual renovation of the property, which was projected to cost about $21 million.

“I’m so frustrated,” Kammerzell said. “It’s no secret that I’ve been concerned about WSU and the number of times they do not step up to the plate but I do not want to jeopardize the port’s credibility. I would say we just turn all the money back.”

The decision to pull the plug on the project was made after a significant amount of internal deliberation at the university, according to the email from Schulz.

He says the plant is active and continues providing heat to WSU’s Pullman campus.

Although the plant on College Avenue closed in 2003 when the steam plant on Grimes Way became operational, the building still houses two functional gas-fired boilers and a small electrical substation on its ends.

“While staff and consultants have diligently worked to account for space now understood to house equipment for the full operation of the steam plant and for the active steam lines and their required points of access, we believe this reduction in space available for reuse creates substantial barriers,” Schulz stated in the email. “It is our informed opinion that these alone will drive costs and reduce amenities which deem the project no longer feasible.”

The university previously voiced support for the proposal in a post to WSU Insider last May.

In the post, WSU Vice President of Research Christopher Keane said the steam plant once provided power, light and heat to the entire campus.

“Since its closure, WSU has worked to reimagine how we revitalize this once vital part of campus,” Keane stated. “WSU is excited to partner with the Port of Whitman County to create space that will allow for research, collaboration, engagement with local business, and a destination for events that will blend the use of both the WSU campus and the greater Pullman community.”

After entering an executive session to discuss the legal ramifications of the situation, Kammerzell reiterated it’s not the port’s fault the project has dissipated.

Commissioner Kristine Meyer said she doesn’t want to see all the work put into the proposal be rendered useless. The officials agreed to send a letter back to Schulz informing him they’ll be exploring different options to keep the project moving forward.

“I would rather spend efforts on getting it back on track than putting it on the shelf only to see it languish in any value that was produced,” Meyer said.

Palermo can be reached at apalermo@dnews.com or on Twitter @apalermotweets.