Old PacMed Medical Center to be leased to Seattle Central Community College

Classrooms and not apartments are in the future for the old PacMed Center on Seattle’s Beacon Hill.

On Tuesday, the Pacific Hospital Preservation and Development Authority, which owns the art deco-style building, voted to lease it to Seattle Central Commnity College.

Board members were also considering turning the building over to a Miami-based developer who proposed converting the historic building into market-rate apartments.

The move is expected to help SCCC to expand its nursing, dentistry, respiratory, surgical technical and optician programs.

The building was constructed in 1932 as a hospital for military veterans, merchant seamen and the Coast Guard.  From 1998 to 2011, Amazon.com used the facility as its headquarters.

After the vote, the Washington State Commerce Department signed a letter of intent to lease more than 200,000 square feet of space of the former hospital to the college.

Mayor Mike McGinn released the following statement about the news:

“This is a great day for Seattle and for our community colleges.  Last April, I joined with six members of the City Council to voice our strong support for the proposal to lease the Pacific Tower for use as a Seattle Community College facility to train and educate health care professionals. This work will support our joint efforts to expand job training in Seattle, provide future health care workers for our city’s thriving health care economic sector and strengthen our commitment to our community colleges. I would like to thank Chancellor Jill Wakefield, the Pacific Hospital Preservation and Development Authority, Governor Inslee and the Washington State Legislature for their hard work to support such an iconic piece of our city’s history and community values.”