Hess Road, Operations/Administration Facility-
When the Parker Water and Sanitation district [PWSD] first occupied the current Woodman facility, the district served about 10,000 single family equivalents in the town of Parker. It has since grown to 24,000 single family equivalents served in the town of Parker and Lone Tree and Castle Pines east of I-25 as well as unincorporated parcels. Over the next twenty years, PWSD is expected to double in size again.
Since the Woodman facility was built, in addition to increased service demands, Rueter Hess reservoir was built. The state of the art Rueter Hess water purification plant was built. Reclamation facilities have been expanded. PWSD helped organize and operates the WISE partnership that brings water to ten South metro water providers from the South Platte. Work has now begun on the Platte Valley Water Partnership that will bring the 23,000 acre feet of water that PWSD acquired in 2004 to Douglas County . Each of these directly or indirectly require space. With 40% of staff are working from trailers and port-a-potties so PWSD had to act.
Beginning ten years ago capital plans included an Operations/Administration facility at Rueter Hess and funds began to be set aside for it. January of 2022, PWSD issued bonds at 2.89% for the balance. With our growth, debt financing of capital projects such as this, allows people who are not yet here but will benefit to help pay for them. Construction Price Index suggests 33% inflation since June of 2021 when construction contracts were left and confirms our savings from the timing of this project.
The building is conventional commercial post and beam construction with an attractive glass and precast façade. It provides 180,000+ square feet of space for shops, storage, laboratory, and offices. The facility is focused on district operations with:
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Multiple specialty labs for metals, bacteria etc
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Central warehouse space for the many supplies such as pumps and meters
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Indoor storage of equipment that is sensitive to freezing
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Shops for equipment repair
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Administrative and operations offices and conference rooms
Parker Water has more than $1 billion in book assets (page 16) , more than some publicly traded corporations. Viewed in context the $58 million to meet space needs of the next 20 years is reasonable. Most important, due to solid planning, no increase in rate or property tax was required to build the facility. As a bonus, rental of the Woodman facility will help offset bond payments on the new ops/admin facility.
The facility was occupied December of 2023.
