Developers say by next spring tenants should be moving into a nine-story apartment building in downtown Olympia called the “Views on Fifth.”
But critics, who know the building by another name, have filed a lawsuit hoping to end the project.
“Everyone calls it the ‘Mistake by the Lake,’” said Jerry Reilly with the Olympia Capitol Park Foundation, the group who filed the suit.
The organization raises seismic and environmental concerns and argue the building blocks the views of the Olympic mountains from the state Capitol campus, something Reilly said the original architects wanted to preserve.
“The Capitol views from the Capitol to the Olympics and back belong to all of the people of the state of Washington,” said Reilly.
A Thurston County judge will hear arguments on the project next Friday, said Reilly.
“We’re going to build a great project,” said Views on Fifth owner/developer Ken Brogan. “It’s going to create a lot of revenue.
Brogan said he has spent more than a million dollars making seismic upgrades and removing asbestos from the building, which was built in 1965 for state offices."
The state rented space at the building more than a decade ago, and it has sat vacant ever since.
Brogan said he has acquired all the necessary permits and will continue with the project unless the court orders him to stop.
“And they're going to have to take them for a good reason,” said Brogan. “We're not stopping."
