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Press Release For Immediate Release
Pacific Hospital PDA Announces:

Letter of Intent for Pacific Tower signed with
Washington State Department of Commerce

 

SEATTLE, August 13, 2013 -- Today the Pacific Hospital Preservation & Development Authority (Pacific Hospital PDA) and the Washington State Department of Commerce signed a Letter of Intent to enter into a 30-year lease agreement for 13 floors of the Pacific Tower property. The parties have 90 days to complete due diligence, at which point an agreed-upon lease would be executed, with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2014.

 

The Pacific Tower property would be leased to the Department of Commerce. Commerce plans to create a Community Health College and Innovation Center.  Seattle Central Community College will occupy up to six floors of the Pacific Tower for classrooms and health care training programs for the Community Health College.

 

"I appreciate the hard work that the Pacific Hospital PDA and the Department of Commerce have put into this project. We look forward to continue working with them," said Jill Wakefield, chancellor, Seattle Community Colleges.

 

The Innovation Center will bring together a number of community and health care nonprofit agencies that have expressed interest in the space. Although Seattle Central Community College will be the primary user, Commerce will also be working with other nonprofit organizations, state agencies and local governments interested in leasing the space.

 

"We are pleased that the Letter of Intent has been signed," said Rosemary Aragon, executive director of the Pacific Hospital PDA. "We support this vision for the Pacific Tower and the proposed lease enables us to fund our mission. With the implementation of health care reform and Medicaid expansion, the proposed Community Health College and Innovation Center would help meet the need for more skilled health care professionals to increase access, part of the Pacific Hospital PDA's mission."

 

"This agreement is a good faith effort to carry out the Legislature's intent for an iconic Seattle property to serve the public interest as a community health care hub," said Brian Bonlender, director of the Department of Commerce.

 

Pacific Medical Centers, also known as PacMed Clinics, will continue to lease clinic space in the Pacific Tower for their Beacon Hill site. No change is anticipated for PacMed patients.

 

 


About Pacific Hospital PDA


PHPDA Building

The Pacific Hospital Preservation & Development Authority partners with community organizations to improve access to health care services in Seattle/King County.

   

In 1981, the City of Seattle chartered the Pacific Hospital PDA, placing in its trust the Pacific Hospital and surrounding campus, a historic Seattle landmark. The Pacific Hospital PDA leases the property. The lease revenues are used to increase access to health resources and to improve health outcomes in King County. In the past 10 years, the Pacific Hospital PDA has provided more than $10 million in funding for projects and programs to support health access and reduce health disparities. 


CONTACT
Rosemary B. Aragon
Executive Director
Phone:  206-325-1357
Pacific Hospital PDA
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