The Kimberly Center building, expected to be completed early next year, is more than 60 percent leased
Work is underway on a 24,000-square-foot office building in Hazel Dell, and owners hope to capitalize on a strong leasing market to fill the remainder of the building.
"The way the market is going, I don’t expect it to take too long," said owner and contractor Tim Blaker. "No more than 90 days after it is built."
The owner of the building is Kimberly Center LLC and Blaker’s firm, DesignWest Builders Inc., is constructing the facility.
The two-story building is located on 1.2 acres on Northeast Hazel Dell Avenue near 78th Street. Construction of the pre-engineered steel structure began about a month ago and is expected to wrap up by February 2006. The cost of the project is $2.4 million.
Human Services Council, a non-profit corporation that works to coordinate the effective delivery of community services in Southwest Washington, has agreed to lease 15,000 square feet of the building.
An industrial warehouse was originally planned for the site, but Brian Sullivan of Coldwell Banker Commercial Bernhardt-Jenkins Associates, who represented both sides during the lease transaction, helped develop the Kimberly Center project to accommodate the Human Services Council’s needs.
Human Services Council will relocate from a run-down location just a stones-throw away on Hazel Dell Avenue.
The remaining 9,000 square feet of Class-A office space can accommodate up to two tenants in spaces of 2,000 square feet and 6,800 square feet.
Blaker said the Hazel Dell area is ripe for additional commercial space, and points to the success of nearby developments, including the Hazel Dell Towne Center, which attracted seven retailers to the 80,000-square-foot project.
"The market is pretty hot in that area," he said. "There is not that much vacancy in office space."
The building will feature a stone and stucco veneer and a granite entry way with a mahogany reception desk. Blaker said an energy-efficient, high-volume vortex H/VAC system, which works to reduce airborne contaminates, will be installed in the building. The project was designed to incorporate a large parking area on the street side of the property. The architect for the project is Design Associates of Vancouver.
