Chelan PUD, County Port Tentatively Agree On Olds Station Land Purchase For PUD Headquarters

The Chelan County PUD wants to relocate its headquarters to Olds Station, consolidating maintenance facilities, office space and board rooms into one campus. Now the PUD and the Port of Chelan County have tentatively agreed to a land purchase to make that happen.

The PUD would buy Port-owned land near the Wenatchee River. It’s known as the Horan block, about 19 acres in Olds Station near the Confluence Technology Center, just north of the Wenatchee River Bridge. The property agreement includes three parcels of land owned by the Port, as well as a long-term lease by the PUD for other Port facilities in Olds Station.

The PUD has facilities and maintenance equipment on Hawley Street and its large headquarters in downtown Wenatchee at the corner of 5th St. and Wenatchee Ave. The utility started a facilities assessment in 2016 and determined a consolidation of PUD facilities in the Olds Station area would improve efficiency, reduce costs over the long run, and reduce the average PUD response time for outages.

The Port and PUD hope to close the transactions by the end of the year. The PUD said public comment will be taken before the purchase is brought before the respective Board of Commissioners for approval. Comment period started yesterday at chelanpud.org.

Dan Langager talked with Dan Frazier, the Chelan PUD’s Shared Services Director.

Marcus Bellissimo talked with the Port of Chelan County’s Executive Director Pat Jones and Wenatchee Mayor Frank Kuntz for their perspective on the proposal.