April 29, 2015

Sedro-Woolley campus for Janicki Bioenergy HQ

A company that designs equipment for developing countries to turn human waste into drinking water and electrical energy will build a new headquarters in Sedro-Woolley.

Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill last week allowing a long-term lease of the old Northern State Hospital site to Janicki Bioenergy. The Port of Skagit will manage the property for the state for up to 60 years.

The Seattle Times reports that construction of manufacturing facilities and office space will start in 2016.

Janicki's new campus will occupy part of the 225-acre site of a former mental hospital that closed in 1973. Brenda Thomas, a Janicki spokeswoman, says eventually the company will have between 500 and 1,000 workers there.

The company's headquarters now are in Sedro-Woolley.

The Northern State campus has been underutilized since the hospital closed. It was designed by the Olmstead Brothers and about half of the 44 buildings are in a nationally recognized historic district.

Forty percent of the buildings are unoccupied. A number of historical buildings have been demolished over time, and newer buildings have been constructed that are not compatible with the original master plan.

In 2010, the state decided to surplus the property, and look for a local group to acquire and redevelop the site.

A three-party partnership consisting of Skagit County, the city of Sedro-Woolley and the Port of Skagit has been exploring this opportunity.

The partnership hired the consulting firm Maul Foster Alongi to study ways to reuse the property. The firm is also leading the master plan for the site. Other members of the consulting team include RMC Architects, Stephen Day Architects, Strategies 360 and Heartland LLC.

The city of Sedro-Woolley is working on annexing the land into the city, which will enable large-scale development to proceed.

John Coleman, planning director for Sedro-Woolley, said Janicki would be an anchor tenant for the property, or could be the sole tenant.

A scoping document for the environmental impact statement lists several possibilities for the size of the development, ranging from 567,400 square feet to 950,000 square feet. The low end of the range represents the existing space on the site. Reaching the higher number would involve constructing up to nine new buildings in and around the historic area.

Janicki gained attention in January when Bill Gates posted a video of himself drinking water from the OmniProcessor, the machine that processes sewage.

This article contains material from The Associated Press.