The City of Puyallup will dedicate its new City Hall on Fri., Aug. 8, during a ceremony to take place at noon outside the building at 333. S. Meridian. A town portrait will be taken immediately after the ribbon cutting program and all citizens are invited to participate.

The five-story, 52,498-square-foot building now houses a number of city departments that had been in separate buildings for many years. Permitting, engineering, planning, utility billing and development services have moved from South Hill to downtown. They will join finance, human resources, the legal department, the city manager’s office, the mayor’s office and the City Council Chambers in the new building.

The campus also includes a 219-stall parking facility managed by Republic Parking, two new park areas and stormwater, sidewalk and street improvements.

The Puyallup City Hall project was built using the alternative public works process known as the General Contractor/Contract Manager (GC/CM) process. The GC/CM process aims to reduce change-orders in the construction phase because it encourages involvement from the owner, designer and contractor in the design development phase of the project. The City’s design team — Seattle-based Mithun architectural firm; Skanska USA; and Egis Real Estate Services — was chosen after an extensive Request for Proposals (RFP) process that was launched in December 2005.

According to City Manager Gary McLean, the City asked its design team to construct a civic campus that was practical, useful, and eco-friendly. Early in the design process, the City Council set its sights on achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification. The City may receive a LEED Gold rating as a result of environmentally-conscious and energy-saving decisions made during the construction process.