| HUD No. 00-212 | |
| Further Information: | For Release |
| In the Washington, DC area: 202/708-0685 | Thursday |
| Or contact your local HUD office | August 10, 2000 |
$9.2 MILLION HUD AWARD BRINGS JOBS TO KING, GRAYS HARBOR COUNTIES
WASHINGTON - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today announced more than $9.2 million for economic development projects in two Washington counties, a move that is expected to create more than 500 new jobs and stimulate millions more dollars in additional private and public investment.
About $4 million goes to King County, which will develop a mixed-use town center in the economically depressed community of Tukwila.
The $35 million project is expected to create about 180 new jobs and develop a center that features a neighborhood public services building, two 3-story buildings with office and retail space, restaurants, 24 affordable condominiums, a 214-space parking deck and a public plaza.
Grays Harbor County will receive about $5.2 million to construct a new building to house SafeHarbor.com, a local Internet technology company founded in 1998 with just six employees but with 150 employees today.
The funding to Grays Harbor Country will enable the company to build a 48,000 square foot building to house an anticipated workforce of about 350 employees. SafeHarbor.com has filled about 65 percent of its new jobs with unemployed or undermployed residents. The building will be constructed at Satsop Development Park, a 440-acre park that previously housed a nuclear power plant. Grays County has lost more than 30 percent of the jobs in its timber and wood-products industries and presently has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state.
"At HUD, we want to rejuvenate America's neighborhoods so that people who live, work and raise families there will have brighter futures," Cuomo said. "I pledge that HUD will work hand-in-hand with officials from both counties and their partners to make sure that these projects create new businesses, new jobs and new opportunities for the people of Washington state."
Cuomo made the announcement with King County Executive Ron Sims in a telephone conference call from Washington this afternoon.
"We commend HUD and Secretary Cuomo for seeing, as we do, the value of revitalizing urban communities like Tukwila," King County Executive Ron Simms said. "With this grant, we will be able to create a town center with office and retail space, restaurants, affordable housing, parking and a public plaza. More than 180 jobs will be created, with at least half of them going to low or moderate income person. Our SmartGrowth Initiatives will be enhanced with this support."
"We want to thank Secretary Cuomo and HUD, and our congressional delegation as well," Grays Harbor County Commissioner Dick Dixon said. "The redevelopment of the former Satsop Nuclear Plant site to accommodate new business to our area, such as SafeHarbor.com, will become the backbone of the economic revitalization of our county and a benefit to our citizens and all of Southwest Washington."
Cuomo said that the King County $4 million HUD funding will come in two forms: a $455,000 Economic Development Initiative (EDI) grant, which help cities to fund activities that create jobs, primarily among low and moderate income residents; and a $3.6 million Section 108 guaranteed loan, which enables communities to borrow funds at reduced interest rates to promote economic development, expand the housing stock or improve public facilities. The loan is "backed" by a portion of a jurisdiction's annual Community Development Block Grant entitlement.
The $5.2 million to Grays Harbor County will also be in two forms: a $600,000 EDI grant and $4.6 million Section 108 loan.
The Washington counties won two of 19 EDI
grants awarded by HUD this year. Some 51 communities competed for the $24
million available this year in the EDI program.
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