By Rolf Boone
The Olympian
The city of Tumwater has issued a $40,000 fine to the owner of the former Olympia Brewing Co. buildings south of Custer Way.
The property totals about 1 million square feet spread over 100 acres that has largely fallen into disrepair since the brewery closed in June 2003, cutting hundreds of jobs.
The current owner, Tumwater Development LLC, has owned the property since late 2015. The primary member of that company is Chandulal Patel, a developer who is thought to split his time between California and India.
The city met with an owner representative last Friday, Community Development Director Mike Matlock said Thursday. Matlock said they walked the entire property and make clear to the representative what the city sees and what needs to be done.
“It’s not good to have this deteriorating hulk in the middle of our town,” Matlock said.
The city also is working with the owner on a voluntary correction agreement. The city has produced a draft copy of the agreement and now needs to negotiate a time frame for addressing the problems with the property. Once the owner has signed off on the agreement, the fines could stop or be reduced, Matlock said.
Nevertheless, the city delivered a $40,000 invoice this month for failure to address several code violations since Oct. 4, including failure to address tall weeds and grasses, fencing and graffiti. The amount grew to $40,000 over that time because there were daily fines associated with those violations.
Separately, the owner is facing a $500-a-day fine for not securing the property from vandals and others who have entered it over the years. The owner also needs to address the lack of fire protection systems and structural and seismic issues with the buildings.
Matlock said the fire protection systems have been dismantled by vandals. He said he is aware of one security guard who patrols the brewery grounds, but the city wants 24-hour protection.
Matlock said the owner representative has had a conversation with a contractor about welding shut and boarding up openings in the various buildings.
The city has taken a much stronger posture with the brewery owner after a major fire damaged it in October. An exasperated Pete Kmet, the mayor of Tumwater, visited the smoldering site the next day.
“I’m frustrated that nothing has happened here and the community is frustrated,” he told The Olympian. “That has to change. We have to see if we can get the owner to do something, or sell it to someone who is willing to do something.”
Kmet wasn’t done.
Earlier this month, Kmet appeared at a Thurston County Chamber of Commerce luncheon with other mayors and county officials and announced that economic sanctions were in play to spur the brewery owner to action.
“I honestly don’t know what motivated him,” Kmet said after the chamber meeting about the brewery purchase, adding the relationship with the owner started out positively and the city turned over all its plans and studies. “It looked like they were ready to take that next step and yet nothing has happened.”
A day after the meeting, the brewery was damaged by fire again.
Fire crews traced the source of the small fire to a makeshift wood stove that was being used to burn off the plastic coating of electrical parts and wires, according to the city.
