The Bremerton entry caught peoples’ attention because KCCHA faced barriers that California redevelopment agencies don’t have to worry about, said John Shirey, executive director of the California Redevelopment Association. “In California, we have a special tax revenue program that was set up specifically to fund redevelopment,” Shirey said. “But Washington State doesn’t.”

For example, the Norm Dicks Government Center is owned and occupied by five different public agencies, none of which could have been able to afford it on their own. The agencies share the costs of common rooms and council chambers, making it the first “condominiumized” municipal building in the nation.

Instead of each agency issuing its own bond to finance the building, the Kitsap County Commissioners wrapped all the financing together, saving over $5 million in interest alone. There are other benefits, too: the government center joins historically disparate and conflicting local and regional governments in one building, which has improved cooperation, streamlines government services for citizens, and uses the combined financial resources of each to revitalize and re-establish Bremerton as the urban core of the region.

“That’s why we chose LMN as our architects, the firm that designed award-winning, high visibility public projects such as Benaroya Hall in Seattle,” Kitsap County Commissioner Chris Endresen, who serves on the KCCHA board, explained. “The firm worked with our steering committee for months to create a design that met everyone’s criteria, which included ensuring it fit in with both old and new Bremerton and that it improved public access and services, provided public views and access, improved working conditions, and was still be affordable.”

LMN’s design has won several regional and statewide honors, including the Puget Sound Regional Council’s Vision 2020 award. The design also beat out a Paul Allen building for the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks Award in 2006.

The building has been successful in its role as catalyst for downtown redevelopment: A Seattle software firm moved its headquarters to downtown Bremerton; Kitsap Credit Union opened a new $16.5 million headquarters across the street from the conference center; and 12 restaurants have opened downtown. A private developer is building waterfront condominiums next to condos that KCCHA is building; and a major hotel chain bought the old city hall, and is planning to demolish it and build there. The success of the Norm Dicks Government Center development was one of the biggest reasons behind a $40 million award of New Markets Tax Credits from the US Department of Treasury, which was the second largest award on the West Coast.