Fifth Street Redevelopment FAQs

Chelan PUD owns the property where its Headquarters campus is located. The Port of Chelan County has an option to purchase all or a portion of the site. This arrangement provides opportunities for a wide range of creative and innovative development — including public/private partnerships.

The site is 7.5 acres with five main buildings totaling approximately 195,000 sq. ft. and a large parking area.

Every effort is being made to get ahead of the PUD’s relocation to Olds Station to see what it will take to attract positive investment in this key downtown location.

The PUD is not funding the redevelopment of the existing Headquarters site, but may find an opportunity to invest in the property prior to the sale in order to improve the potential for redevelopment. The City of Wenatchee, the Port of Chelan County and Chelan PUD jointly funded a consultant to work with them and a Community Advisory Group on identifying potential redevelopment ideas.

The PUD has made a commitment to assure that the current Headquarters site provides positive economic opportunity for the downtown. We will support efforts to identify businesses, housing and/or services that add to existing downtown economic activity and do not compete with what currently exists. The potential for this site is tremendous and we are confident that we will be able to maintain the projected schedule for the PUD’s
relocation to Olds Station.

The economic analysis conducted during the facilities planning process included revenues that would result from the sale of the current PUD Headquarters location.

During our outreach with residents throughout Chelan County in March and April we heard a wide range of creative ideas for redevelopment. You can view some of those suggestions at chelanpud.org/ServiceCenter. Be sure to check back at(chelanpud.org/RedevelopFifth) for regular updates on the progress of the Community Advisory Group.

The City, Port and PUD have included members of the Music Theatre of Wenatchee in the early redevelopment planning discussions and they will have someone on the Community Advisory Group as well to ensure any concerns are fully discussed.

The Port of Chelan County has an option on the Hawley Street property. The City of Wenatchee has included the Hawley Street site in its North Wenatchee Subarea Plan.

It is unknown what impact the sale of those properties will have, but it could be a factor in how this whole area is redeveloped.

This website page (www.chelanpud.org/RedevelopFifth) is a great way to stay up-to-date. Also, the PUD’s customer newsletter, Connected, will have regular updates; we will be updating the PUD’s social media information on Facebook and Twitter frequently; and you can contact us, too, by clicking on “Your Ideas” on this web page. We hope to see you at the fall Open House for a peek at the work of the Community Advisory Group. It’s an exciting time to be a Chelan PUD customer!

Chelan PUD Commissioners in November 2022 closed the RFP process for the redevelopment of Fifth Street without selecting a contractor. They directed staff to propose a range of options for next steps for redeveloping the Fifth Street campus.

On Feb. 21, staff presented the Commission with five potential options. The staff recommended Option #4 (Phase I & Phase II). Several community members, including the YMCA and Music Theater of Wenatchee, as well as the Wenatchee Downtown Association and the Chelan-Douglas Regional Port Authority spoke in support of Option #4. In a unanimous vote, the Commission selected Option #4, Phase I and asked the staff to come back in late June for an update.

Under the new redevelopment model, staff will:

Negotiate directly with the YMCA to become the anchor tenant for the site and acquisition of specific parcels to begin development of the Y’s new headquarters location; Work with the Y and Music Theatre of Wenatchee to meet parking needs for both facilities; Discuss with Music Theater of Wenatchee the acquisition of the PUD’s Fish & Wildlife Building; Invest in site improvements such as demolition of existing buildings, creating internal circulation routes, remediation and/or installing needed utilities; Identify a broker who will seek a developer or developers for the remaining parcels consistent with the overall redevelopment priorities previously identified by the PUD, the City of Wenatchee, the Chelan-Douglas Regional Port Authority, Downtown Wenatchee Association, the Greater Wenatchee Chamber of Commerce, the community advisory group, along with the comments received during the public outreach effort.