Aberdeen’s proposed Gateway Center is more than a “glorified visitor’s center,” said Aberdeen Mayor Erik Larson at Greater Grays Harbor Inc.’s business forum at the Grays Harbor Country Club Tuesday.

“If you view the Gateway Center as a visitor’s center, and think building a several million dollar visitor’s center is a bad idea, I would agree with you,” he said. “But that is not what this is.”

Larson said only about 25 percent of the building will house tourism-related features, including displays of the history of Aberdeen and the rest of the county. The remainder of it would house nonprofit and other organizations whose primary goal is to assist existing businesses to grow and attract new businesses to the area.

“If you want to get something done in Grays Harbor County, there will be somebody in that building to take your hand and show you how to get it done,” said Larson.

Dru Garson, CEO of Greater Grays Harbor Inc., hosted the forum, which attracted business interests and elected officials from across the county and beyond. He introduced Michael Cade, Executive Director of the Thurston County Economic Development Council. In September 2015, the council opened its Business and Innovation Center in Lacey, which will serve as a model for the Gateway Center.

“We had a $35 million direct economic impact in both 2016 and 2017, and launched 100 new businesses,” said Cade. “Can I attach that success with that building? Absolutely.”

During those same years, the center provided 2,500 hours of technical assistance to businesses in Thurston County, added Cade. They have created a local investor network, where startups and new business ventures can find access to a list of potential investors. There are also grant and program development programs, and art entrepreneurship and even craft brewing programs.

The Thurston County Business and Innovation Center houses all of these programs, and more, under one roof. Basically, anybody who wants to open a business can show up at the building and find pretty much all the information and assistance needed to do so, Cade said. It is that kind of situation Larson wants to bring to the Gateway Center.

With success comes criticism, and there are genuine challenges to putting together the diverse groups and organizations needed for such a venture. But, said Cade, the challenges he has faced in his tenure have been met with genuine, quantifiable success.

“Even now we have some of our board members kind of grousing, asking why they keep getting things thrown at them,” he said. “That reminded me of Don Quixote walking through a Spanish village with Sancho Panza. Sancho asked, ‘Why are the dogs barking at us?’ to which Quixote responded, ‘Because we are moving forward.’”

The design for the Gateway Center calls for a look based on the old timber storage buildings and drying racks that used to dot the region, said Larson, but modernized and “brought into the future.” The design is sleek, stylish and contains a great deal of cross laminated timber, a manufactured lumber that maintains a heavy lumber look, and a lot of glass. Coates Architecture of Bainbridge Island is working up the design, with the support of local architect Bob Ford.

The state Legislature has already funded land acquisition and some pre-design work and another phase of funding is under consideration in the Legislature now. Larson stressed that the Gateway Center isn’t competing for funding with other projects, like street repair and maintenance, or addressing the mental health and drug issues in the county. He said the money is coming from economic development and state capital projects funds and other funding sources targeting economic development projects. He is hopeful President Donald Trump’s promised infrastructure funding package could help further fund the Gateway Center, and there’s $1.75 million in state funding written into the current state capital budget, which legislators are still working to pass in a special session. There is also the possibility of businesses and other private investors kicking in at some point. Larson said the goal is to build the center debt-free.

“If we don’t build the Gateway Center we’re not going to get another eight million for a water treatment plant,” said Larson. “Seattle’s going to get another park.”

While the City of Aberdeen has taken the lead on the project, Larson said the Gateway Center and its business development programs will benefit the county as a whole.

“If Ocean Shores is building a housing development, there’s a contractor in Aberdeen that’s making money,” he said. “We are all one community. We really are a tight region, so what’s beneficial for Aberdeen is beneficial for the county, and what’s beneficial for the county is beneficial to Aberdeen.”

As for opponents of the project saying it’s simply too ambitious for Aberdeen to handle, Larson had this to say.

“We need to stop selling ourselves short,” he said. “Some people are real negative, saying we can’t do this or that. The fact that’s still an attitude in this area is part of what’s holding us back.”

Over the next two years Larson’s goal is to secure funding to get the site “shovel-ready,” meaning the property is ready and the design is finalized and ready for construction. During that time the types of organizations that will set up shop in the Gateway Center to provide the economic development services to benefit area businesses.