CARLSBORG — Site work is now underway for a new headquarters building here for the Clallam County Public Utility District.

The new facility, part of a $12 million “comprehensive facilities program” announced in March by the utilities district, will replace the aging headquarters building at 2431 E. U.S. Highway 101, about 2.5 miles east of downtown Port Angeles.

The new 30,000-square-foot headquarters will be located just west of the PUD’s massive central warehouse facility — a former Costco Wholesale — at the intersection of U.S. Highway 101 and Hooker Road in Carlsborg.

The PUD Board of Commissioners in May approved a contract with Bellevue-based architecture firm Lawhead and Associates to study and design the new headquarters.

PUD spokesman Mike Howe said that in addition to containing the utility’s administrative offices, it will also hold the customer service center.

It’s all part of a larger plan suggested by PUD consultants to move the utility’s operations, Howe said.

“A firm recommended that PUD’s facilities should be centralized in the eastern part of the county for better efficiency and to move closer to the center of our existing and future customer base.”

The first major step toward preparing the site for the new administrative building took place Saturday when the Coastal View Building near the central warehouse facility was moved from the site to clear room.

“We hope to be in [the new headquarters] by this time next year,” Howe said.

Howe said the new construction is needed because “the current PUD facilities are aging and will require significant expenditures to bring them up to current industry standards.”

PUD Board of Commissioners President Hugh Haffner, who is running unopposed for re-election Nov. 4, said he’s a proponent of the new facilities plan and the need to build a new headquarters to replace the current structure, which was built in the 1960s.

“With a real need, the favorable interest rates, decreased commodity prices and competitive construction costs, this is a good time to build,” he said.

PUD General Manager Doug Nass said bringing the old facility in Port Angeles up to code would have cost the same as “a new building or new headquarters on property we already own in Carlsborg.”

The current administration building will be sold, Howe said.

The facilities plan also calls for adding a new 6,000-square-foot engineering office to the operations facility located near Carlsborg Road north of Highway 101.

The estimated total cost of the new headquarters building in Carlsborg and the engineering addition to the Carlsborg operations center is preliminarily estimated at $10.2 million.

As part of the plan, the PUD will raze the old Sequim Customer Office at 410 E. Washington St., but will retain ownership of the property.

The building has been empty since 2006.

Howe said the Sequim building “needs to be razed because of problems with the existing structure that would make it more costly to bring up to code than build a new building.”

In future years, the PUD also hopes to build a new vehicle shop in Carlsborg to replace the one now located near William R. Fairchild International Airport in Port Angeles.

The PUD recently issued $14 million in bonds, with portions of the funds going to other infrastructure needs, Howe said.

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Reporter Mark St.J. Couhig can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at mcouhig@peninsuladailynews.com.