May 29, 2008
Populating UW Tower — a work in progress
The move of campus units to UW Tower is already a bit more than a third complete, and more units will move in over the summer.
“We’re on schedule,” said John Seidelmann, principal facilities planner for the Capital and Space Planning Office, which is under the Office of Planning and Budgeting. “We’re at about 35 percent occupied now and by July expect to be halfway there. By the end of the year we’ll be nearly full.”
The UW purchased the tower from Safeco Insurance in September of 2006, and Safeco leased the building back from the UW until the end of 2007. In January the UW began the necessary work to ready the tower for UW occupancy. There are four buildings in all — the tower, and buildings S, O and C, which will ultimately get different names.
As of May, about 470 UW units have moved to the tower, with more moving in late this month or in June. Other UW offices will make the move in July or later. For some large UW units such as Educational Outreach and UW Technology, moving to the tower will bring a consolidation of offices formerly scattered in several locations. UW Technology will occupy several floors in two of the lower buildings that are among the tower properties,
Already moved in at UW Tower are Educational Outreach, the Attorney General’s Office, University Press, Planning and Budgeting and parts of UW Technology.
About 275 other UW units are moving to the tower this month and next. They include Public Health and Community Medicine, Continuing Nurse Education and Continuing Medical Education.
Building S, one of the lower structures, will see some redesign for a new entry on the south side and a welcoming center, Seidelmann said. That building will later house offices for Development, Alumni Relations and Marketing.
Units moving into the tower properties in July or afterward include several administrative offices for UW Medical Center and UW Physicians Network, the Office of Information Management and Office of Research Information and the Emergency Management office.
Much of Safeco’s furniture remains in use. Seidelmann said crews preparing tower properties for UW use are mostly repainting, recarpeting and doing technical upgrades for needed computer wiring.
Some elements of the work, such as completion of the Data Center or the creation of a fitness center, will likely continue into 2010, Seidelmann said.
Planning for all the UW units to make their move to the different UW Tower properties is like the puzzle game where you move squares around to make things fit, Seidelmann said with a laugh. “But we’re working three of the puzzles at the same time.”
