Harborview project over budget; Sims suggests fix

A voter-approved project to rebuild parts of earthquake-vulnerable Harborview Medical Center is running over its budget, leaving funding for part of the project in question.

The Metropolitan King County Council is scheduled to vote Monday on County Executive Ron Sims' request to take $15 million from funding for a new clinic building and shift it toward the seismic strengthening of the trauma center tower and construction of a new inpatient wing.

Sims told the County Council in a March 22 letter the highest priority must be adding capacity and seismically upgrading the region's premier trauma center.

Voters in 2000 approved $191 million in bonds to expand the hospital's capacity, strengthen its ability to withstand an earthquake, and replace offices that will be demolished for seismic-safety reasons. Since then, the construction budget has grown to $293 million, with increases covered by interest earnings on the bonds and Harborview reserves.

The project ran into financial problems when the general contractor/construction manager, Turner Construction, said design changes, rising prices for building materials and a busy construction market had driven up the cost by $31 million. Turner proposed raising its price for the job by that amount, saying the reasons for the increase were unforeseen.

"This thing was planned a few years ago, before construction costs skyrocketed. ... We don't have adequate budget capacity to do all the work that's planned," said the county facilities chief, Kathy Brown.

The University of Washington, which operates Harborview and is managing the construction project, negotiated a proposed settlement with Turner that would increase the price of the trauma center and expanded inpatient wing by $22.3 million, with $15 million of that coming from a budget for a clinical building designed to replace clinics that will be demolished.

The settlement would bridge the remainder of the funding gap by spending contingency funds, finding efficiencies and reducing Turner's profit margin, according to a County Council staff report.

Sims' proposal to the council would complete the garage on the clinic building while exploring options for how to pay for the rest of the structure.

The County Council's Capital Budget Committee sent the legislation to the full council without a recommendation Wednesday.

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com